ten o'clock
I thought to myself . `` It is as though I were going to some dinner that I know beforehand will be exceedingly tiresome -- only then I should get some food . '' I was disappointed at the lack of drama in the affair . I looked at my watch -- it was ten o'clock . Semyonov was arranging everything with a masterly disregard of personal feelings . He swore fine Russian oaths , abused the sanitars , always in his cold rather satirical voice , his heavy figure moving up and down the road with a practical vivid alertness that stirred my envy and also my annoyance . I felt utterly useless .