eleven o’clock at night
And scandal was what Pyotr Ilyitch dreaded more than anything in the world . Yet the feeling that possessed him was so strong , that though he stamped his foot angrily and swore at himself , he set off again , not to Fyodor Pavlovitch 's but to Madame Hohlakov 's . He decided that if she denied having just given Dmitri Fyodorovitch three thousand roubles , he would go straight to the police captain , but if she admitted having given him the money , he would go home and let the matter rest till next morning . It is , of course , perfectly evident that there was even more likelihood of causing scandal by going at eleven o'clock at night to a fashionable lady , a complete stranger , and perhaps rousing her from her bed to ask her an amazing question , than by going to Fyodor Pavlovitch . But that is just how it is , sometimes , especially in cases like the present one , with the decisions of the most precise and phlegmatic people . Pyotr Ilyitch was by no means phlegmatic at that moment . He remembered all his life how a haunting uneasiness gradually gained possession of him , growing more and more painful and driving him on , against his will .