twenty minutes past
two
On the 13th of December -- Lubotshka 's birthday -- the Princess Kornakoff and her daughters , with Madame Valakhin , Sonetchka , Ilinka Grap , and the two younger Iwins , arrived at our house before luncheon . Though we could hear the sounds of talking , laughter , and movements going on in the drawing-room , we could not join the party until our morning lessons were finished . The table of studies in the schoolroom said , `` Lundi , de 2 a 3 , maitre d'Histoire et de Geographie , '' and this infernal maitre d'Histoire we must await , listen to , and see the back of before we could gain our liberty . Already it was twenty minutes past two , and nothing was to be heard of the tutor , nor yet anything to be seen of him in the street , although I kept looking up and down it with the greatest impatience and with an emphatic longing never to see the maitre again . `` I believe he is not coming to-day , '' said Woloda , looking up for a moment from his lesson-book . `` I hope he is not , please the Lord ! '' I answered , but in a despondent tone .