midnight
Now his scorn extended to himself . `` I had neither the simplicity nor the courage nor the self-possession to be a scoundrel , or an exceptionally able man . For who , with us in Russia , is to tell a scoundrel from an exceptionally able man ? ... '' He was the puppet of his past , because at the very stroke of midnight he jumped up and ran swiftly downstairs as if confident that , by the power of destiny , the house door would fly open before the absolute necessity of his errand . And as a matter of fact , just as he got to the bottom of the stairs , it was opened for him by some people of the house coming home late -- two men and a woman . He slipped out through them into the street , swept then by a fitful gust of wind . They were , of course , very much startled .