nearly midnight
I had found myself thinking of them at most inopportune times , greatly to the detriment of my work as a realist . It was cool on the balcony , and I was abnormally warm , as might be expected . It occurred to me that I might do worse than to sit out there in the cool of the evening and enjoy a cigar or two -- three or four , if necessary . But , though I sat there until nearly midnight and chattered my teeth almost out of my head with the cold , she did not appear at her window . The aggravating part of it was that while I was shivering out there in the beastly raw , miasmic air , she doubtless was lying on a luxurious couch before a warm fire in a dressing gown and slippers , -- ah , slippers ! -- reading a novel and thinking of nothing in the world but her own comfort ! And those rascally beggars presumed to think that I was in love with a selfish , self-centred , spoiled creature like that !