nine
o'clock
Fashion ignores it . It is tenanted by small clubs , learned societies , and doctors . It slumbers in genteel decorum , with its back to the garish modern thoroughfare . It is always quiet , but by nine o'clock of a dark evening it is deserted . When Dr Lefevre , therefore , stepped out of his hired hansom , and prepared to put his latch-key in his own door , he was arrested by a hoarse-voiced hawker of evening news bursting in upon the repose of the Row with a continuous roar of `` Special -- Mystery -- Paper -- Railway -- Special -- Brighton -- Paper -- Victoria -- Special ! '' It was with some effort , and only when the man was close at hand , that he interpreted the sounds into these words . `` Paper , sir , '' said the man ; and he bought it and went in .