midday
`` It 's bound to be quieter towards evening , '' said the peasant who was heating the stove . And in the next room the doctor began talking of the rigorous climate and its influence on the character of the Russian , of the long winters which , by preventing movement from place to place , hinder the intellectual development of the people ; and Lyzhin listened with vexation to these observations and looked out of window at the snow drifts which were piled on the fence . He gazed at the white dust which covered the whole visible expanse , at the trees which bowed their heads despairingly to right and then to left , listened to the howling and the banging , and thought gloomily : `` Well , what moral can be drawn from it ? It 's a blizzard and that is all about it ... '' At midday they had lunch , then wandered aimlessly about the house ; they went to the windows . `` And Lesnitsky is lying there , '' thought Lyzhin , watching the whirling snow , which raced furiously round and round upon the drifts . `` Lesnitsky is lying there , the witnesses are waiting ... '' They talked of the weather , saying that the snowstorm usually lasted two days and nights , rarely longer . At six o'clock they had dinner , then they played cards , sang , danced ; at last they had supper .