twelve o'clock
It is not my habit to filch from other men 's pockets , and I am not fond of picking up all sorts of rubbish in the streets . Yevgeny Nikolaitch is going to Simbirsk in a day or two on his grandfather 's business , and he has asked me to find a travelling companion for him ; would n't you like to take him with you ? This unpleasant business occurred at the epoch when the regeneration of our beloved fatherland and the struggle of her valiant sons towards new hopes and destinies was beginning with irresistible force and with a touchingly naïve impetuosity . One winter evening in that period , between eleven and twelve o'clock , three highly respectable gentlemen were sitting in a comfortable and even luxuriously furnished room in a handsome house of two storeys on the Petersburg Side , and were engaged in a staid and edifying conversation on a very interesting subject . These three gentlemen were all of generals ' rank . They were sitting round a little table , each in a soft and handsome arm-chair , and as they talked , they quietly and luxuriously sipped champagne . The bottle stood on the table on a silver stand with ice round it .