two o'clock in the morning
Without saying a word Erast Ivanitch goes out , and to this day his hair is long on one side of the head and short on the other . He regards it as extravagance to pay for having his hair cut and is waiting for the hair to grow of itself on the shaven side . He danced at the wedding in that condition . PYOTR PETROVITCH STRIZHIN , the nephew of Madame Ivanov , the colonel 's widow -- the man whose new goloshes were stolen last year , -- came home from a christening party at two o'clock in the morning . To avoid waking the household he took off his things in the lobby , made his way on tiptoe to his room , holding his breath , and began getting ready for bed without lighting a candle . Strizhin leads a sober and regular life . He has a sanctimonious expression of face , he reads nothing but religious and edifying books , but at the christening party , in his delight that Lyubov Spiridonovna had passed through her confinement successfully , he had permitted himself to drink four glasses of vodka and a glass of wine , the taste of which suggested something midway between vinegar and castor oil .