midnight
He knew in the depths of his soul that he ought to go away , that there was no real reason for staying on with his aunts , knew that no good could come of it ; and yet it was so pleasant , so delightful , that he did not honestly acknowledge the facts to himself and stayed on . On Easter eve , the priest and the deacon who came to the house to say mass had had -LRB- so they said -RRB- the greatest difficulty in getting over the three miles that lay between the church and the old ladies ' house , coming across the puddles and the bare earth in a sledge . Nekhludoff attended the mass with his aunts and the servants , and kept looking at Katusha , who was near the door and brought in the censers for the priests . Then having given the priests and his aunts the Easter kiss , though it was not midnight and therefore not Easter yet , he was already going to bed when he heard the old servant Matrona Pavlovna preparing to go to the church to get the koulitch and paski -LSB- Easter cakes -RSB- blest after the midnight service . `` I shall go too , '' he thought . The road to the church was impassable either in a sledge or on wheels , so Nekhludoff , who behaved in his aunts ' house just as he did at home , ordered the old horse , `` the brother 's horse , '' to be saddled , and instead of going to bed he put on his gay uniform , a pair of tight-fitting riding breeches and his overcoat , and got on the old over-fed and heavy horse , which neighed continually all the way as he rode in the dark through the puddles and snow to the church . For Nekhludoff this early mass remained for ever after one of the brightest and most vivid memories of his life .