midnight
At ten o'clock in the evening Malahin gets an answer from the traffic manager : `` Give precedence . '' Reading the telegram through , the old man winks significantly and , very well pleased with himself , puts it in his pocket . `` Here , '' he says to Yasha , `` look and learn . '' At midnight his train goes on . The night is dark and cold like the previous one ; the waits at the stations are long . Yasha sits on the cape and imperturbably strums on the accordion , while the old man is still more eager to exert himself . At one of the stations he is overtaken by a desire to lodge a complaint .