"between the hours of two and four"

"...only that tendency, inherited from his father, James, to lie awake between the hours of two and four, when the chrysalis of faint misgiving becomes so readily the butterfly of panic, had developed his uneasiness." 31

I've woken in "the dead of night" feeling an immediate and sharp hatred of myself. Something about the alienation of this time, promoted by darkness, seems to expose our inner demons.

I love when reading passages like the above. Galsworthy has a wonderful gift, demonstrating in not so many words a very immense feeling/idea. Although succinctly, not simply. He does not simply relate, "When Soames is awake between two and four in the morning he feels great misgivings" -- as I would hazard is the method of most authors today. Even the greatest authors of our time are so very simple in their prose. There is no beauty in the words written today. Many will disagree with me. Granted, it depends on what type of style of writing you prefer.

I believe the greatest literature proves a complex thought or feeling with lyrical (not necessarily flowery or overly adorned) language that also has the seemingly contradictory feat of using expression in a realistic -- i.e. deconstructive -- manner.