two in the
morning
Well , away with stealthy trot I ran from the abysmal silence of that place , and in Palace Street near made one of those sudden immoderate rackets that seemed to outrage the universe , and left me so woefully faint , decrepit , and gasping for life -LRB- the noise of the train was different , for there I was flying , but here a captive , and which way I ran was capture -RRB- . Passing in Palace Street , I saw a little lampshop , and wanting a lantern , tried to get in , but the door was locked ; so , after going a few steps , and kicking against a policeman 's truncheon , I returned to break the window-glass . I knew that it would make a fearful noise , and for some fifteen or twenty minutes stood hesitating : but never could I have dreamed , my good God , of _ such _ a noise , so passionate , so dominant , so divulgent , and , O Heaven , so long-lasting : for I seemed to have struck upon the weak spot of some planet , which came suddenly tumbling , with protracted bellowing and _ débâcle _ , about my ears . It was a good hour before I would climb in ; but then quickly found what I wanted , and some big oil-cans ; and till one or two in the morning , the innovating flicker of my lantern went peering at random into the gloomy nooks of the town . Under a deep old Gothic arch that spanned a pavered alley , I saw the little window of a little house of rubble , and between the two diamond-paned sashes rags tightly beaten in , the idea evidently being to make the place air-tight against the poison . When I went in I found the door of that room open , though it , too , apparently , had been stuffed at the edges ; and on the threshold an old man and woman lay low . I conjectured that , thus protected , they had remained shut in , till either hunger , or the lack of oxygen in the used-up air , drove them forth , whereupon the poison , still active , must have instantly ended them .