five in the morning
`` The poisoning case . '' `` That 's quite right , '' said the public prosecutor , but did not think it at all right . He had spent the night in a hotel playing cards with a friend who was giving a farewell party . Up to five in the morning they played and drank , so he had no time to look at this poisoning case , and meant to run it through now . The secretary , happening to know this , advised the president to begin with the poisoning case . The secretary was a Liberal , even a Radical , in opinion . Breve was a Conservative ; the secretary disliked him , and envied him his position .