three o’clock in the morning
Alexey Alexandrovitch , after meeting Vronsky on his own steps , drove , as he had intended , to the Italian opera . He sat through two acts there , and saw everyone he had wanted to see . On returning home , he carefully scrutinized the hat stand , and noticing that there was not a military overcoat there , he went , as usual , to his own room . But , contrary to his usual habit , he did not go to bed , he walked up and down his study till three o'clock in the morning . The feeling of furious anger with his wife , who would not observe the proprieties and keep to the one stipulation he had laid on her , not to receive her lover in her own home , gave him no peace . She had not complied with his request , and he was bound to punish her and carry out his threat -- obtain a divorce and take away his son . He knew all the difficulties connected with this course , but he had said he would do it , and now he must carry out his threat .