about four o’clock
he said . `` Yes , yes , go quickly , my good Ramond , and come back again to see us the day after to-morrow . She will be here then , and I want you to come and embrace us . '' The day was long , and the following morning , at about four o'clock , shortly after Pascal had fallen asleep , after a happy vigil filled with hopes and dreams , he was wakened by a dreadful attack . He felt as if an enormous weight , as if the whole house , had fallen down upon his chest , so that the thorax , flattened down , touched the back . He could not breathe ; the pain reached the shoulders , then the neck , and paralyzed the left arm . But he was perfectly conscious ; he had the feeling that his heart was about to stop , that life was about to leave him , in the dreadful oppression , like that of a vise , which was suffocating him .