noon
Long after the rosy dawn I got up , drank some water , lit a strong cigar , and prepared to dress myself for the day 's work . I can well remember my determination never again to expose my feelings toward any living soul and my constantly repeated assertion to myself that I had been hasty and indiscreet , that I did not in truth any longer love Julianna and had been punished for a breach of that reserve and caution which had been a virtuous characteristic of my ancestors . With my teeth shut together , with a frenzy to accomplish much work , without a breakfast , and with sharp and perhaps ill-tempered commands to my assistants , I spent the morning in the preparation of cases for which trials were pending . By noon the heat of the day had become intense , the sides of the battalions of towering buildings across the narrow street seemed to become radiators for the viciousness of the summer sun , the voices of newsboys , the murmur of the lunch-hour crowd twanged a man 's nerves , and I noticed for the first time the devilish song of the electric fan on my wall . As you have foreseen , I felt suddenly the wilting of my will . Tired , hungry , sleepless , I slipped down into my chair , and there seemed no happiness left in a world which did not include the girl I had left the night before . I seized my hat and , clapping it on my head , I stopped only to sweep the papers into the desk drawers and hurried toward the elevator .