Nine o’clock
Quietude and solitude now came back again ; the olden city , cold and somniferous , followed the new city with its bright sunshine and its crowds . Pierre remembered the maps which he had consulted , and realised that he was drawing near to the Via Giulia , and thereupon his curiosity , which had been steadily increasing , augmented to such a point that he suffered from it , full of despair at not seeing more and learning more at once . In the feverish state in which he had found himself ever since leaving the station , his astonishment at not finding things such as he had expected , the many shocks that his imagination had received , aggravated his passion beyond endurance , and brought him an acute desire to satisfy himself immediately . Nine o'clock had struck but a few minutes previously , he had the whole morning before him to repair to the Boccanera palace , so why should he not at once drive to the classic spot , the summit whence one perceives the whole of Rome spread out upon her seven hills ? And when once this thought had entered into his mind it tortured him until he was at last compelled to yield to it . The driver no longer turned his head , so that Pierre rose up to give him this new address : `` To San Pietro in Montorio ! '' On hearing him the man at first looked astonished , unable to understand .