seven o'clock in the evening
As soon as I went up to my room , and opened the window facing the lake , the beauty of the sheet of water , of these mountains , and of this sky , at the first moment literally dazzled and overwhelmed me . I experienced an inward unrest , and the necessity of expressing in some manner the feelings that suddenly filled my soul to overflowing . I felt a desire to embrace , powerfully to embrace , some one , to tickle him , or to pinch him ; in short , to do to him and to myself something extraordinary . It was seven o'clock in the evening . The rain had been falling all day , but now it had cleared off . The lake , blue as heated sulphur , spread out before my windows smooth and motionless , like a concave mirror between the variegated green shores ; its surface was dotted with boats , which left behind them vanishing trails . Farther away it was contracted between two monstrous headlands , and , darkling , set itself against and disappeared behind a confused pile of mountains , clouds , and glaciers .