One o'clock
I had now got half-way in my second cheroot , and the clock clanged ` one . ' It was a very still night , and the prolonged boom vibrated strangely in my excited ears and brain . I had never been quite such an ass before ; but I do assure you I was now in an extremely unpleasant state . One o'clock was better , however , than twelve . Although , by Jove ! the bell was ` beating one , ' as I remember , precisely as that king of ghosts , old Hamlet , revisited the glimpses of the moon , upon the famous platform of Elsinore . I had pondered too long over the lore of this Satanic family , and drunk very strong tea , I suppose .