eight o'clock
She gave me no details , but observed with a shudder that `` he had on that occasion astounded her beyond all belief . '' I imagine that all he did was to terrify her by threatening to charge her with being an accomplice if she `` said anything . '' The necessity for this intimidation arose from his plans at the moment , of which she , of course , knew nothing ; and only later , five days afterwards , she guessed why he had been so doubtful of her reticence and so afraid of a new outburst of indignation on her part . Between seven and eight o'clock , when it was dark , all the five members of the quintet met together at Ensign Erkel 's lodgings in a little crooked house at the end of the town . The meeting had been fixed by Pyotr Stepanovitch himself , but he was unpardonably late , and the members waited over an hour for him . This Ensign Erkel was that young officer who had sat the whole evening at Virginsky 's with a pencil in his hand and a notebook before him . He had not long been in the town ; he lodged alone with two old women , sisters , in a secluded by-street and was shortly to leave the town ; a meeting at his house was less likely to attract notice than anywhere .