midnight
His first sentences electrified his hearers . `` I have no possible recollection of yesterday , '' he began , `` and it is precisely as much of a lost day to me as though I had lain chloroformed for twenty-four hours . On Wednesday night I returned home from this club and went to rest . I never really woke until Friday , possibly a little while after midnight , and then within my own bed . On Thursday morning I must have risen in a state of somnambulism , hypnotism , mental aberration , whatever you please , and not come to myself until Thursday had passed , and I had once more retired . Of what yesterday occurred I therefore claim to have been the irresponsible agent , and to have become so through no fault of my own . I am completely innocent of the misdemeanors charged against me , and I now solemnly swear this , on my word of honor as a gentleman . ''