midnight
Hunger , indeed , was his normal state ; semi-starvation , alternating with surfeits of cheap and unwholesome food , brought about an unhealthy condition of body . Often he returned to Walcot Square from his day-long drudgery , and threw himself upon the bed , too exhausted to light a fire and make his tea , -- for he was his own servant in all things except the weekly cleaning-out of the room . Those were dark hours , and they had to be struggled through in solitude . Weary as he was he seldom went to bed before midnight , sometimes long after , for he clung to those few hours of freedom with something like savage obstinacy ; during this small portion of each day at least , he would possess his own soul , be free to think and read . Then came the penalty of anguish unutterable when the morning had to be faced . These dark , foggy February mornings crushed him with a recurring misery which often drove him to the verge of mania . His head throbbing with the torture of insufficient sleep , he lay in dull half-conscious misery till there was no longer time to prepare breakfast , and he had to hasten off to school after a mouthful of dry bread which choked him .