one o’clock in the afternoon
Death , which people had devised for him , and which was only in their minds , in their intention , seemed to him to be already standing there in the room . It seemed to him that Death would remain standing there , and would not go away until those people had been captured , until the bombs had been taken from them , until they had been placed in a strong prison . There Death was standing in the corner , and would not go away -- it could not go away , even as an obedient sentinel stationed on guard by a superior 's will and order . `` At one o'clock in the afternoon , your Excellency ! '' this phrase kept ringing , changing its tone continually : now it was cheerfully mocking , now angry , now dull and obstinate . It sounded as if a hundred wound-up gramophones had been placed in his room , and all of them , one after another , were shouting with idiotic repetition the words they had been made to shout : `` At one o'clock in the afternoon , your Excellency ! '' And suddenly , this one o'clock in the afternoon to-morrow , which but a short while ago was not in any way different from other hours , which was only a quiet movement of the hand along the dial of his gold watch , assumed an ominous finality , sprang out of the dial , began to live separately , stretched itself into an enormously huge black pole which cut all life in two .