If I could have made myself go to sleep, I would have done it directly, but not being able to do that, I took out of my basket some ornamental work for our house (I mean Bleak House) that I was busy with at that time and sat down to it with great determination. 
If I could have made myself go to sleep, I would have done it, but not being able to do that, I took out of my basket some needlework and sat down to it with great determination. 