midnight
Come , for God 's sake ! '' she says ; `` and the horses have been sent for you . '' ... Well , that 's all right . But she was twenty miles from the town , and it was midnight out of doors , and the roads in such a state , my word ! And as she was poor herself , one could not expect more than two silver roubles , and even that problematic ; and perhaps it might only be a matter of a roll of linen and a sack of oatmeal in payment . However , duty , you know , before everything : a fellow-creature may be dying . I hand over my cards at once to Kalliopin , the member of the provincial commission , and return home .