twelve o'clock before
`` I think , '' said I , with a yawn , `` that you had best let him sleep , and go to sleep yourself . You can physic him in the morning if he needs it . '' So saying I stumbled off to my bedroom , and throwing myself upon the couch was soon in a dreamless slumber . It must have been eleven or twelve o'clock before I awoke , and it seemed to me in the flood of golden light which streamed into my chamber that the wild , tumultuous episodes of the night before must have formed part of some fantastic dream . It was hard to believe that the gentle breeze which whispered so softly among the ivy-leaves around my window was caused by the same element which had shaken the very house a few short hours before . It was as if Nature had repented of her momentary passion and was endeavouring to make amends to an injured world by its warmth and its sunshine . A chorus of birds in the garden below filled the whole air with their wonder and congratulations .