two o’clock
Jimmy was accustomed to sleep for about eight hours `` on end , '' as he put it . When he had had his eight hours he generally woke up . If he was not obliged to get up he often went to sleep again after an interval of wakefulness , but he seldom slept for as much as nine hours without waking . On this night between two o'clock and three it seemed as if a layer of sleep were gently lifted from him . He sighed , stirred , turned over and began to dream . He dreamed confusedly about Dion , and there were pain and apprehension in his dream . In it Dion seemed to be himself and yet not himself , to be near and at the same time remote , to be Jimmy 's friend and yet , in some strange and horrible way , hostile to Jimmy .