three o’clock in the morning
asked Velchaninoff , in return , after a pause , and with an expression of much perplexity . `` I had the pleasure of your acquaintance ten years ago at T -- -- , and , if I may remind you of the fact , we were almost intimate friends . '' `` Quite so -- oh yes ! but it is now three o'clock in the morning , and you have been trying my lock for the last ten minutes . '' `` Three o'clock ! '' cried the visitor , looking at his watch with an air of melancholy surprise . `` Why , so it is !