three o'clock
Already he forgot the exact sequence . It seemed ages since he parted from May . He broke off there , rose , drank a glass of water , and lighted a cigarette . He shook himself into wakefulness , condemned himself for this debauch of weak-minded thinking , found the time to be three o'clock , and brushed the whole cobweb tangle from his mind . He knew that sudden warmth after cold will often induce sleep -- a fact proved by incidents of his campaigns -- so he trudged up and down and opened his window and let the cool breath of the night chill his forehead and breast for five minutes . This action calmed him , and he headed himself off from returning to the subject . He felt that mental dread and discomfort were only waiting to break out again ; but he smothered them , returned to bed , and succeeded in keeping his mind on neutral-tinted matter until he fell asleep .