four o'clock in the afternoon
On the contrary , he was tormented by the wish to know what she would have said or done had he yielded to his impulse ; and , for the remainder of the night , his brain lost itself in a maze of hazardous conjecture . Only when day broke , a cheerless February day , was he satisfied that he could not have acted differently . Upstairs , in her room , Louise lay face downwards on her bed , and there , her arms thrown wildly out over the pillows , all the froth and intoxication of the evening gone from her -- there lay , and wished she were dead . * * * * * Three days later , towards four o'clock in the afternoon , Maurice watched the train that carried her from him steam out of the DRESDENER BAHNHOF . The clearness he had gained as to his own motives , and the ruthless probing of himself it induced , both led to the same conclusion : Louise must go away . The day after the ball , too , he had found her in a state of collapse , which was unparalleled even in the ups and downs of the past weeks . `` Anything !