seven o’clock in the evening
But how describe so merry a story ! While writing I burst out laughing at least twenty times . If Porou did not laugh , his solemn silence was quite as amusing as the most uproarious hilarity . It was already seven o'clock in the evening when I wrote the final line of this delightful story . During the last hour the room had only been lighted by Porou 's phosphorescent eyes . And yet I had written with as much ease in the darkness as by the light of a good lamp . My story finished , I proceeded to dress .