ten o’clock
On his entrance he found the whole company already assembled in the dining room . Valentina Mihailovna greeted him in a friendly manner ; she seemed to him marvellously beautiful in her morning gown . Mariana looked stern and serious as usual . Exactly at ten o'clock Nejdanov gave Kolia his first lesson before Valentina Mihailovna , who had asked him if she might be present , and sat very quietly the whole time . Kolia proved an intelligent boy ; after the inevitable moments of incertitude and discomfort , the lesson went off very well , and Valentina Mihailovna was evidently satisfied with Nejdanov , and spoke to him several times kindly . He tried to hold aloof a little -- but not too much so . Valentina Mihailovna was also present at the second lesson , this time on Russian history .