three o'clock in the morning
He could not bring himself really to believe . But he went . He ran downstairs and out into the street , took his stand under a projecting doorway nearly opposite the house which held the woman he loved , and leaning against the wall , he waited . After many hours -- it was then past three o'clock in the morning , and the sky of an inky blackness -- he felt so numb that despite his will a kind of trance-like drowsiness overcame him . He could no longer stand on his feet ; his knees were shaking ; his head felt so heavy that he could not keep it up . It rolled round from shoulder to shoulder , as if his will no longer controlled it . And it ached furiously .