three o'clock
Ah ! what mad desires dashing up against some rock of obstruction or indifference , and flung back again from the unimpressionable granite ! If a list could be made this very night in London of the groans , thoughts , imprecations of tossing lovers , what a catalogue it would be ! I wonder what a per centage of the male population of the metropolis will be lying awake at two or three o'clock to-morrow morning , counting the hours as they go by knelling drearily , and rolling from left to right , restless , yearning , and heart-sick ? What a pang it is ! I never knew a man die of love , certainly , but I have known a twelve stone man go down to nine stone five , under a disappointed passion , so that pretty nearly a quarter of him may be said to have perished ; and that is no small portion . He has come back to his old size subsequently ; perhaps is bigger than ever : very likely some new affection has closed round his heart and ribs and made them comfortable , and young Pen is a man who will console himself like the rest of us .