midnight
Goodbye . '' Nejdanov went out and Mariana locked the door of her room . A FORTNIGHT later , in the same room , Nejdanov sat bending over his three-legged table , writing to his friend Silin by the dim light of a tallow candle . -LRB- It was long past midnight . Muddy garments lay scattered on the sofa , on the floor , just where they had been thrown off . A fine drizzly rain pattered against the window-panes and a strong , warm wind moaned about the roof of the house . -RRB- MY DEAR VLADIMIR , -- I am writing to you without giving my address and will send this letter by a messenger to a distant posting-station as my being here is a secret , and to disclose it might mean the ruin not of myself alone .