Three o'clock
And he reconstructed Fauchery 's article on the poisoned fly , and he came before the house and declared that morals such as these , which could only be paralleled in the days of the later Roman Empire , rendered society an impossibility ; that did him good . But the shadows had meanwhile disappeared . Doubtless they had gone to bed again , and , still watching , he continued waiting where he was . Three o'clock struck , then four , but he could not take his departure . When showers fell he buried himself in a corner of the doorway , his legs splashed with wet . Nobody passed by now , and occasionally his eyes would close , as though scorched by the streak of light , which he kept watching obstinately , fixedly , with idiotic persistence . On two subsequent occasions the shadows flitted about , repeating the same gestures and agitating the silhouette of the same gigantic jug , and twice quiet was re-established , and the night lamp again glowed discreetly out .