midnight
Four o'clock the sound of boot-blacking by the porter faintly apparent from the toilet-room . Why not talk to him ? But , fortunately , I remembered that any attempt at extended conversation with conductor or porter was always resented by them as implied disloyalty to the company they represented . I recalled that once I had endeavored to impress upon a conductor the absolute folly of a midnight inspection of tickets , and had been treated by him as an escaped lunatic . No , there was no relief from this suffocating and insupportable loneliness to be gained then . I raised the window-blind and looked out . We were passing a farm-house .