three o’clock
in the morning
When the generals and ladies gazed down from their gilt frames , looking in the dusk as though they were alive , it was dreary to listen to the story of the poor clerk who ate gooseberries . They felt inclined , for some reason , to talk about elegant people , about women . And their sitting in the drawing-room where everything -- the chandeliers in their covers , the arm-chairs , and the carpet under their feet -- reminded them that those very people who were now looking down from their frames had once moved about , sat , drunk tea in this room , and the fact that lovely Pelagea was moving noiselessly about was better than any story . Alehin was fearfully sleepy ; he had got up early , before three o'clock in the morning , to look after his work , and now his eyes were closing ; but he was afraid his visitors might tell some interesting story after he had gone , and he lingered on . He did not go into the question whether what Ivan Ivanovitch had just said was right and true . His visitors did not talk of groats , nor of hay , nor of tar , but of something that had no direct bearing on his life , and he was glad and wanted them to go on . `` It 's bed-time , though , '' said Burkin , getting up .