three in the
morning
He looked up so many new words that when they recurred , he had forgotten their meaning and had to look them up again . He devised the plan of writing the definitions in a note-book , and filled page after page with them . And still he could not understand . He read until three in the morning , and his brain was in a turmoil , but not one essential thought in the text had he grasped . He looked up , and it seemed that the room was lifting , heeling , and plunging like a ship upon the sea . Then he hurled the `` Secret Doctrine '' and many curses across the room , turned off the gas , and composed himself to sleep . Nor did he have much better luck with the other three books .