one o'clock in the afternoon
`` The spirit of grandfather Ilarion seems to have prophesied the truth ! Oh , if only it is so ! '' -- The day after this meeting I left Yalta and how Shamohin 's story ended I do n't know . IT is one o'clock in the afternoon . Shopping is at its height at the `` Nouveauté 's de Paris , '' a drapery establishment in one of the Arcades . There is a monotonous hum of shopmen 's voices , the hum one hears at school when the teacher sets the boys to learn something by heart . This regular sound is not interrupted by the laughter of lady customers nor the slam of the glass door , nor the scurrying of the boys .