About midnight
After that moment all was a blank in his mind . In reality he returned to his room and sat down by his table with a candle before him . He never knew that after the examination he had begged another bottle of liquor of the butler on the ground that his nerves were upset by the terrible event . About midnight the candle burned down into the socket . Profiting by the last ray of light he drank a final draught and reeled to his bed , dressed as he was . One bottle was empty , and a third of the second was gone . Arnoldo Meschini was dead drunk .