One o'clock may
That boy -- he was asleep at the twopenny doss , and the trousers were drying . What a good thing that he should be totally insensitive to atmosphere , as no doubt he was . The hardest hours for the watcher by a sick-bed are those that can not be convinced that they belong to the previous day . One o'clock may be coaxed or bribed easily enough into winking at a pretence that it is only a corollary of twelve ; two o'clock protests against it audibly , and every quarter-chime endorses its claim to be to-morrow ; three o'clock makes short work of an imposture only a depraved effrontery can endeavour to foist upon it . Rosalind was aware of her unfitness to sit up all night -- all this next night -- but nursed the pretext that it had not come , and that it was still to-day , until a sense of the morning chill , and something in the way the sound of each belated cab confessed to its own scarcity , convinced her of the uselessness of further effort . Then she surrendered the point , short of the stroke of three , and exchanged posts with the nurse , who promised to call her at once should it seem necessary to do so . Sleep came with a rush , and dreamless oblivion .