one o'clock
He was answered that his future employers knew that , but were liberal-minded . How liberal-minded people were at that time ! Now there commenced a new double life for him . From the penal institution of the elementary school with its compulsory catechism and Bible , its poverty , wretchedness , and cruelty , he went to dinner at one o'clock , which he swallowed in a quarter of an hour , and then by two o'clock was at his post as private tutor . The house was one of the finest at that time in Stockholm with a porter , Pompeian stair-cases and painted windows in the hall . In a handsome , large , well-lighted corner room with flowers , bird-cages and an aquarium he was to give lessons to two well-dressed , washed and combed little girls , who looked cheerful and satisfied after their dinner . Here he could give expression to his own thoughts .