3 A.M.
Armitage and Kosinski at such times would be busy folding the papers , both absorbed in their work , happy to think that they were thus advancing the great Cause . And Short , shivering discontentedly at the cold , or swearing amid much perspiration at the heat , would smoke his pipe and eat his unattractive pastry , whilst crawling into his rugs and banners , until Beppe , in an outburst of indignation , drags him out by the scruff of the neck and compels him to lock up the forms . One night there was a grand banquet , for Beppe had turned in , bearing under his long cloak a prime conditioned tom-cat , whose disconcerted mews were rapidly ended by a dexterous twist of the neck , and whose plump person was before long stewing in wine and vinegar in the _ Tocsin _ stockpot , after his liver had been previously fried for the private consumption of the ever-hungry Beppe . When this succulent repast had been disposed of towards 3 A.M. -LRB- all the _ Tocsin _ workers had admirable digestions -RRB- a brief respite from work ensued , during which Beppe sang pieces of Italian opera , accompanied by Gnecco on his mandolin , and M'Dermott treated us to brief recitations from Shakespeare . Much stamping and gesticulation accompanied , I remember , the soliloquy of Hamlet , and our flesh crept at the witches ' incantations from `` Macbeth . '' The old cobbler delighted in Shakespeare and dictionaries , between the perusal of which he spent most of his time . `` Like Autolycus in the ` Winter 's Tale , ' '' he said to me one day , `` I am a ` snapper-up of unconsidered trifles , ' and during the riots of 18 -- I snapped up a sufficient number of these to enable me to set myself up with a small library , and I did no work during eighteen months , devoting my entire time to Shakespeare and Johnson 's Dictionary . ''