about four o’clock in the
morning
The mysterious inner pain again began gnawing at Nejdanov 's heart , but the keener the pain , the more positively and loudly he spoke . He had drunk only one glass of beer , but it seemed to him at times that he was quite intoxicated . His head swam around and his heart beat feverishly . When the discussion came to an end at last at about four o'clock in the morning , and they all passed by the servant asleep in the anteroom on their way to their own rooms , Nejdanov , before retiring to bed , stood for a long time motionless , gazing straight before him . He was filled with wonder at the proud , heart-rending note in all that Markelov had said . The man 's vanity must have been hurt , he must have suffered , but how nobly he forgot his own personal sorrows for that which he held to be the truth . `` He is a limited soul , '' Nejdanov thought , `` but is it not a thousand times better to be like that than such ... such as I feel myself to be ? ''