four o'clock in the afternoon
A reporter from the _ Republican _ recognized him and extended his hand : `` Hello , Vaughan ! '' John stared at him coldly and resumed his play without a word . At the end of six days he had won more than two thousand dollars from the house , put it in his pocket , and , deaf to the blandishments of smooth , gentlemanly proprietor , pushed his way out into the Avenue . It was but four o'clock in the afternoon and he was only half drunk . He wandered aimlessly down the street and crossed in the direction of hell 's half-acre below the Baltimore depot . His uniform was wrinkled , his boots had not been blacked for a week , his linen was dirty , his hair rumpled , his handsome black moustache stained with drink , but he was hilariously conscious that he had two thousand dollars of Joe Hall 's ill-gotten money in his pocket . There was a devil-may-care swing to his walk and a look in his eye that no decent woman would care to see twice .