four o'clock
`` You know these gentlemen like to do each other a good turn when they can , and so , putting two and two together , I should say that his Excellency of Perm has concluded that our pretty prisoner will serve to beguile the dulness of that Godforsaken hole in which his Excellency of Tchit is probably dying of _ ennui _ . She will be more comfortable there than at Sakhalin , and it is a lucky thing for her that she has found favour in his Excellency 's eyes . '' Colston could have shot the fellow where he sat leering across the table ; but though his blood was at boiling point , he controlled himself sufficiently to make a reply after the same fashion , and soon after took his leave and retired for the night . At four o'clock the guard was changed . The new officer , after taking the keys , unlocked the door of the room in which Natasha and the Princess were confined , and roused them up to satisfy himself that they were still in safe keeping . It was a brutal formality , but perfectly characteristic of Siberian officialism . The man who had been on guard so far joined the patrol and returned to the barracks , while the new officer made himself comfortable with a bottle of brandy , with which Soudeikin had obligingly provided him , in the sitting-room .