six o'clock in the evening
Next day Kuzma Vassilyevitch went shopping before dinner , and , after persistent haggling , bought a tiny gold cross on a little velvet ribbon . `` Though she declares , '' he thought , `` that she never takes presents , we all know what such sayings mean ; and if she really is so disinterested , Emilie wo n't be so squeamish . '' So argued this Don Juan of Nikolaev , who had probably never heard of the original Don Juan and knew nothing about him . At six o'clock in the evening Kuzma Vassilyevitch shaved carefully and sending for a hairdresser he knew , told him to pomade and curl his topknot , which the latter did with peculiar zeal , not sparing the government note paper for curlpapers ; then Kuzma Vassilyevitch put on a smart new uniform , took into his right hand a pair of new wash-leather gloves , and , sprinkling himself with lavender water , set off . Kuzma Vassilyevitch took a great deal more trouble over his personal appearance on this occasion than when he went to see his `` Zuckerpüppchen '' , not because he liked Colibri better than Emilie but in the `` pretty little doll '' there was something enigmatic , something which stirred even the sluggish imagination of the young lieutenant . Madame Fritsche greeted him as she had done the day before and as though she had conspired with him in a plan of deception , informed him again that Emilie had gone out for a short time and asked him to wait . Kuzma Vassilyevitch nodded in token of assent and sat down on a chair .