midday
both with one voice pronounced , ` Good-bye . ' Punin even returned me a volume of the _ Telegraph _ I had brought him , as much as to say , ` he had no need of anything of that kind now . ' A week later I had a curious encounter . An early spring had set in abruptly ; at midday the heat rose to eighteen degrees Réaumur . Everything was turning green , and shooting up out of the spongy , damp earth . I hired a horse at the riding-school , and went out for a ride into the outskirts of the town , towards the Vorobyov hills . On the road I was met by a little cart , drawn by a pair of spirited ponies , splashed with mud up to their ears , with plaited tails , and red ribbons in their manes and forelocks .