two o’clock in the morning
In particular did Manilov -- a man still in his prime , and possessed of a pair of eyes which , sweet as sugar , blinked whenever he laughed -- find himself unable to make enough of his enchanter . Clasping Chichikov long and fervently by the hand , he besought him to do him , Manilov , the honour of visiting his country house -LRB- which he declared to lie at a distance of not more than fifteen versts from the boundaries of the town -RRB- ; and in return Chichikov averred -LRB- with an exceedingly affable bow and a most sincere handshake -RRB- that he was prepared not only to fulfil his friend 's behest , but also to look upon the fulfilling of it as a sacred duty . In the same way Sobakevitch said to him laconically : `` And do you pay ME a visit , '' and then proceeded to shuffle a pair of boots of such dimensions that to find a pair to correspond with them would have been indeed difficult -- more especially at the present day , when the race of epic heroes is beginning to die out in Russia . Next day Chichikov dined and spent the evening at the house of the Chief of Police -- a residence where , three hours after dinner , every one sat down to whist , and remained so seated until two o'clock in the morning . On this occasion Chichikov made the acquaintance of , among others , a landowner named Nozdrev -- a dissipated little fellow of thirty who had no sooner exchanged three or four words with his new acquaintance than he began to address him in the second person singular . Yet although he did the same to the Chief of Police and the Public Prosecutor , the company had no sooner seated themselves at the card-table than both the one and the other of these functionaries started to keep a careful eye upon Nozdrev 's tricks , and to watch practically every card which he played . The following evening Chichikov spent with the President of the Local Council , who received his guests -- even though the latter included two ladies -- in a greasy dressing-gown .