midnight
The humble candlelight flickered on the ostentatious gold letters displayed on the ground-glass doors of opulent companies which he knew were famous , and rooms where millionaires met in secret conclave , but the contrast awakened only his sense of humor . Yet he was always relieved after he had reached his own floor . Possibly its incompleteness and inchoate condition made it seem less lonely than the desolation of the finished and furnished rooms below , and it was only this recollection of past human occupancy that was depressing . He opened his door , lit the solitary gas jet that only half illuminated the long room , and , it being already past midnight , began to undress himself . This process presently brought him to that corner of his room where his bed stood , when he suddenly stopped , and his sleepy yawn changed to a gape of surprise . For , lying in the bed , its head upon the pillow , and its rigid arms accurately stretched down over the turned-back sheet , was a child 's doll ! It was a small doll -- a banged and battered doll , that had seen service , but it had evidently been `` tucked in '' with maternal tenderness , and lay there with its staring eyes turned to the ceiling , the very genius of insomnia !