five o’clock in the morning
Yet , although , as I have said , she loved her husband more than anything else in the world , and he too had a great affection for her -LRB- or at all events he had at first , and when he saw that others besides himself admired her beauty -RRB- , it seemed almost as though she purposely did everything most likely to displease him -- simply to prove to him the strength of her love , her readiness to sacrifice herself for his sake , and the fact that her one aim in life was to win his affection ! She was fond of display , and my father too liked to see her as a beauty who excited wonder and admiration ; yet she sacrificed her weakness for fine clothes to her love for him , and grew more and more accustomed to remain at home in a plain grey blouse . Again , Papa considered freedom and equality to be indispensable conditions of family life , and hoped that his favourite Lubotshka and his kind-hearted young wife would become sincere friends ; yet once again Avdotia sacrificed herself by considering it incumbent upon her to pay the `` real mistress of the house , '' as she called Lubotshka , an amount of deference which only shocked and annoyed my father . Likewise , he played cards a great deal that winter , and lost considerable sums towards the end of it , wherefore , unwilling , as usual , to let his gambling affairs intrude upon his family life , he began to preserve complete secrecy concerning his play ; yet Avdotia , though often ailing , as well as , towards the end of the winter , enceinte , considered herself bound always to sit up -LRB- in a grey blouse , and with her hair dishevelled -RRB- for my father when , at , say , four or five o'clock in the morning , he returned home from the club ashamed , depleted in pocket , and weary . She would ask him absent-mindedly whether he had been fortunate in play , and listen with indulgent attention , little nods of her head , and a faint smile upon her face as he told her of his doings at the club and begged her , for about the hundredth time , never to sit up for him again . Yet , though Papa 's winnings or losings -LRB- upon which his substance practically depended -RRB- in no way interested her , she was always the first to meet him when he returned home in the small hours of the morning . This she was incited to do , not only by the strength of her devotion , but by a certain secret jealousy from which she suffered .