one o'clock in the morning
`` Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots by a gas fire ! '' `` Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated , '' said I ; `` or he may have gone to bed early . '' `` But he did not . The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at one o'clock in the morning . In the sitting-room , too , you remember . But he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed -- or perhaps smoking -- for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty of candles in it . As there is gas in the room , he could n't have wanted the candle to undress by .