six o'clock
The countess looked anxious and careworn . The eyes of the three girls were swollen with crying , and the lads afterwards learned that Katinka had gone down on her knees to her father , to implore him to allow her to sacrifice herself for the common good by marrying Count Smerskoff . This , however , the count had absolutely refused to do , and had even insisted upon her promising him that , should he be exiled and his estates confiscated , she would not afterwards purchase his release by consenting to marry her suitor . Respecting the grief and anxiety into which the family were plunged , the midshipmen kept apart from them all the afternoon , only joining them at the evening meal at six o'clock . As they withdrew , saying , in answer to the count 's invitation that they should stop with them , that they were first going for a little walk , Jack whispered in Olga 's ear , `` Keep up your courage . All may not be lost yet . '' The coachman was waiting for them in the stable , and they started at once in an opposite direction to that at which the meeting was to take place , in case Paul might by any possibility observe their departure .