three in the morning
He has no position in the State , no post at Court , he never has to say , `` I am going to the Chamber . '' I alone in the house have sixteen hours for meditation . My father is absorbed in public business and his own amusements ; my mother , too , is never at leisure ; no member of the household practises self-examination , they are constantly in company , and have hardly time to live . I should immensely like to know what is the potent charm wielded by society to keep people prisoner from nine every evening till two or three in the morning , and force them to be so lavish alike of strength and money . When I longed for it , I had no idea of the separations it brought about , or its overmastering spell . But , then , I forget , it is Paris which does it all . It is possible , it seems , for members of one family to live side by side and know absolutely nothing of each other .