midnight
The whizzing rush and discordant scream of the electric trams , the sun warm upon his face , aroused Emile from a restless , fitful sleep of a few hours . The street cries had begun to swell into a volume of sound , and at the earliest dawn the whole place teemed with stir and life . There was no hour in all the night in which Barcelona really slept . Some of the shops did not close before midnight , and people were continually passing through the Rambla , and entering and leaving the _ posadas _ , which were open for the sale of wine and bread soon after three o'clock in the morning . Emile yawned and stretched , and pulled himself up slowly from the chair by the open window in which he had fallen asleep . He was cramped and stiff from his uncomfortable position . Anxiety and strain had deepened the lines on his face , and his eyes were dull and sunken .