about two in the morning
People who have had an arm or a leg amputated , he reflected , say they can still feel pains in the absent member . Well , there 's an analogy in that . Modern skepticism has amputated God from the heart ; but there is still a twinge where the arteries were sewn up . He slept peacefully until about two in the morning , except when a red-hot coal , slipping through the grate-bars , burned a lamentable hole in his trousers . When he woke , the night still dripped , but was clear aloft . He started the engine and drove cautiously , along black slippery roads , to Mr. Poodle 's house . In spite of the unavoidable racket , no one stirred : he surmised that the curate slept soundly after the crises of the day .