four o’clock in the
morning
There was something in that smile which forbade further insistence ; Bersenyev did not add a word . After dinner he proposed to Insarov that he should take him to the Stahovs ; but he replied that he had intended to devote the evening to correspondence with his Bulgarians , and so he would ask him to put off the visit to the Stahovs till next day . Bersenyev was already familiar with Insarov 's unbending will ; but it was only now when he was under the same roof with him , that he fully realised at last that Insarov would never alter any decision , just in the same way as he would never fail to carry out a promise he had given ; to Bersenyev -- a Russian to his fingertips -- this more than German exactitude seemed at first odd , and even rather ludicrous ; but he soon got used to it , and ended by finding it -- if not deserving of respect -- at least very convenient . The second day after his arrival , Insarov got up at four o'clock in the morning , made a round of almost all Kuntsovo , bathed in the river , drank a glass of cold milk , and then set to work . And he had plenty of work to do ; he was studying Russian history and law , and political economy , translating the Bulgarian ballads and chronicles , collecting materials on the Eastern Question , and compiling a Russian grammar for the use of Bulgarians , and a Bulgarian grammar for the use of Russians . Bersenyev went up to him and began to discuss Feuerbach . Insarov listened attentively , made few remarks , but to the point ; it was clear from his observations that he was trying to arrive at a conclusion as to whether he need study Feuerbach , or whether he could get on without him .