nearly noon
His appearance was in keeping with the room ; a soiled dressing-gown , that had once been very elegant , was wrapt carelessly about him ; his black hair streamed over the pillow , and gave an almost ghastly effect to his face , as he lay in that troubled dream , already pale and worn from many sleepless nights . It was a handsome face , but one from which a physiognomist would have shrunk , had he seen it in its hard truthfulness , without a gleam of the fascination which it was capable of expressing in guarded moments and under more fortunate circumstances . The sleeper was on the sunny side of mid-age , but his countenance was one of those which carries no idea of youth with it , even in early boyhood it was so marked by craft and recklessness that nothing of the _ abandon _ of fresh feeling ever left an imprint there . It was nearly noon , but he had not stirred or opened his eyes ; once or twice the dilapidated chambermaid , who performed a slatternly duty in that part of the building , opened the door and peeped in , but her entrance had not served to arouse him , and she knew better than to venture upon any further attempt . Suddenly he woke from a troubled dream and looked about him . `` I dreamed they were railing me up in a coffin , '' he muttered ; `` pah , how plainly I heard them driving in the nails ! '' He turned upon his pillow with a shuddering oath , but that instant there came a knock at the door , this time quick and impatient -- it was the first summons which had caused him that unquiet vision .