about three o'clock in the morning
Ivan Ilyitch lay on the floor absolutely unconscious . Pseldonimov clutched at his hair and sat as though petrified in that position . The guests made haste to depart , commenting each in his own way on the incident . It was about three o'clock in the morning . * * * * * The worst of it was that Pseldonimov 's circumstances were far worse than could have been imagined , in spite of the unattractiveness of his present surroundings . And while Ivan Ilyitch is lying on the floor and Pseldonimov is standing over him tearing his hair in despair , we will break off the thread of our story and say a few explanatory words about Porfiry Petrovitch Pseldonimov . Not more than a month before his wedding he was in a state of hopeless destitution .