midnight
Strand was an exasperatingly headstrong fellow , and persuasions never prevailed with him . He had confirmed himself in the belief that he was very unattractive to women , and that Augusta , of all women , for some reason which was not quite clear to him , hated and abhorred him . Inexperienced as he was , he could see no reason why she should avoid him , if she did not hate him . They sat talking until midnight , each entangling himself in those passionate paradoxes and contradictions peculiar to passionate and impulsive youth . Strand paced the floor with large steps , pouring out his long pent-up emotion in violent tirades of self-accusation and regret ; while Arnfinn sat on the bed , trying to soothe his excitement by assuring him that he was not such a monster as , for the moment , he had believed himself to be , but only succeeding , in spite of all his efforts , in pouring oil on the flames . Strand was scientifically convinced that Nature , in accordance with some inscrutable law of equilibrium , had found it necessary to make him physically unattractive , perhaps to indemnify mankind for that excess of intellectual gifts which , at the expense of the race at large , she had bestowed upon him . Early the next morning , as a kind of etherealized sunshine broke through the white muslin curtains of Arnfinn 's room , and long streaks of sun-illumined dust stole through the air toward the sleeper 's pillow , there was a sharp rap at the door , and Strand entered .