about three o'clock
he asked ; and when his companion had replied in the affirmative , `` it is connected in my mind , '' added he , `` with a very odd story . '' `` Indeed ? '' said Mr. Utterson , with a slight change of voice , `` and what was that ? '' `` Well , it was this way , '' returned Mr. Enfield : `` I was coming home from some place at the end of the world , about three o'clock of a black winter morning , and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps . Street after street , and all the folks asleep -- street after street , all lighted up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church -- till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman . All at once I saw two figures : one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk , and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten , who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street . Well , sir , the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner ; and then came the horrible part of the thing ; for the man trampled calmly over the child 's body and left her screaming on the ground .