three in the morning
As might be expected , wine was not lacking , and Tchertokoutski kept involuntarily filling his glass with it , for he was surrounded with bottles . A lengthy conversation took place at table , but the guests carried it on after a strange fashion . A colonel , who had served in 1812 , described a battle which had never taken place ; and besides , no one ever could make out why he took a cork and stuck it into a pie . They began to break-up at three in the morning . The coachmen were obliged to take several of them in their arms like bundles ; and Tchertokoutski himself , despite his aristocratic pride , bowed so low to the company , that he took home two thistles in his moustache . The coachman who drove him home found every one asleep . He routed out , after some trouble , the valet , who , after having ushered his master through the hall , handed him over to a maid-servant .