ten o’clock
The father remained the same -- poorer , shabbier , and more dissolute-looking , but the same confirmed and irreclaimable drunkard . The boys had , long ago , run wild in the streets , and left him ; the girl alone remained , but she worked hard , and words or blows could always procure him something for the tavern . So he went on in the old course , and a merry life he led . One night , as early as ten o'clock -- for the girl had been sick for many days , and there was , consequently , little to spend at the public-house -- he bent his steps homeward , bethinking himself that if he would have her able to earn money , it would be as well to apply to the parish surgeon , or , at all events , to take the trouble of inquiring what ailed her , which he had not yet thought it worth while to do . It was a wet December night ; the wind blew piercing cold , and the rain poured heavily down . He begged a few halfpence from a passer-by , and having bought a small loaf -LRB- for it was his interest to keep the girl alive , if he could -RRB- , he shuffled onwards as fast as the wind and rain would let him . At the back of Fleet-street , and lying between it and the water-side , are several mean and narrow courts , which form a portion of Whitefriars : it was to one of these that he directed his steps .