eight o'clock in the evening
On his side there was , as usual , great self-confidence and contempt for all these `` wretched creatures '' and for Shatov in particular . He had for years despised Shatov for his `` whining idiocy , '' as he had expressed it in former days abroad , and he was absolutely confident that he could deal with such a guileless creature , that is , keep an eye on him all that day , and put a check on him at the first sign of danger . Yet what saved `` the scoundrels '' for a short time was something quite unexpected which they had not foreseen ... . Towards eight o'clock in the evening -LRB- at the very time when the quintet was meeting at Erkel 's , and waiting in indignation and excitement for Pyotr Stepanovitch -RRB- Shatov was lying in the dark on his bed with a headache and a slight chill ; he was tortured by uncertainty , he was angry , he kept making up his mind , and could not make it up finally , and felt , with a curse , that it would all lead to nothing . Gradually he sank into a brief doze and had something like a nightmare . He dreamt that he was lying on his bed , tied up with cords and unable to stir , and meantime he heard a terrible banging that echoed all over the house , a banging on the fence , at the gate , at his door , in Kirillov 's lodge , so that the whole house was shaking , and a far-away familiar voice that wrung his heart was calling to him piteously . He suddenly woke and sat up in bed .