about five in the morning
I was tempted , I say ; but not for long . Thank God , a man may be reduced to living by the fortunes of the dice , and may even be called by a woman ` spy ' and ` coward , ' without becoming a thief ! The temptation soon left me -- I take credit for it -- and I fell to thinking of this and that plan for making use of them . Once it occurred to me to take the jewels to the Cardinal and buy my pardon with them ; again , to use them as a trap to capture Cocheforet ; again , to -- and then , about five in the morning , as I sat up on my wretched pallet , while the first light stole slowly in through the cobwebbed , hay-stuffed lattice , there came to me the real plan , the plan of plans , on which I acted . It charmed me I smacked my lips over it , and hugged myself , and felt my eyes dilate in the darkness , as I conned it . It seemed cruel , it seemed mean ; I cared nothing . Mademoiselle had boasted of her victory over me , of her woman 's wits and her acuteness and of my dullness .