three o’clock in
the morning
Was it sadness , then , unconscious , unnameable sadness ? For their eyes filled with tears , as if they had just spoilt their lives and dived to the depths of human misery . Then , moved and grieved , unable to find a word , even of thanks , he kissed her religiously upon the brow . ON the 15th May , a Friday , Claude , who had returned at three o'clock in the morning from Sandoz 's , was still asleep at nine , when Madame Joseph brought him up a large bouquet of white lilac which a commissionaire had just left downstairs . He understood at once . Christine had wished to be beforehand in celebrating the success of his painting . For this was a great day for him , the opening day of the ` Salon of the Rejected , ' which was first instituted that year , * and at which his picture -- refused by the hanging committee of the official Salon -- was to be exhibited .