two o’clock
Only when he had done that did he proceed to business . Planting himself before his dispatch-box , he rubbed his hands with a satisfaction worthy of an incorruptible rural magistrate when adjourning for luncheon ; after which he extracted from the receptacle a bundle of papers . These he had decided not to deposit with a lawyer , for the reason that he would hasten matters , as well as save expense , by himself framing and fair-copying the necessary deeds of indenture ; and since he was thoroughly acquainted with the necessary terminology , he proceeded to inscribe in large characters the date , and then in smaller ones , his name and rank . By two o'clock the whole was finished , and as he looked at the sheets of names representing bygone peasants who had ploughed , worked at handicrafts , cheated their masters , fetched , carried , and got drunk -LRB- though SOME of them may have behaved well -RRB- , there came over him a strange , unaccountable sensation . To his eye each list of names seemed to possess a character of its own ; and even individual peasants therein seemed to have taken on certain qualities peculiar to themselves . For instance , to the majority of Madame Korobotchka 's serfs there were appended nicknames and other additions ; Plushkin 's list was distinguished by a conciseness of exposition which had led to certain of the items being represented merely by Christian name , patronymic , and a couple of dots ; and Sobakevitch 's list was remarkable for its amplitude and circumstantiality , in that not a single peasant had such of his peculiar characteristics omitted as that the deceased had been `` excellent at joinery , '' or `` sober and ready to pay attention to his work . '' Also , in Sobakevitch 's list there was recorded who had been the father and the mother of each of the deceased , and how those parents had behaved themselves .