ten o’clock
You 'll get ready , wo n't you ? I 'll make all arrangements immediately . '' Markelov withdrew , and an hour later Nejdanov sat by his side on the broad leather-cushioned seat of his comfortable old carriage . The little coachman on the box kept on whistling in wonderfully pleasant bird-like notes ; three piebald horses , with plaited manes and tails , flew like the wind over the smooth even road ; and already enveloped in the first shadows of the night -LRB- it was exactly ten o'clock when they started -RRB- , trees , bushes , fields , meadows , and ditches , some in the foreground , others in the background , sailed swiftly towards them . Markelov 's tiny little village , Borsionkov , consisting of about two hundred acres in all , and bringing him in an income of seven hundred roubles a year , was situated about three miles away from the provincial town , seven miles off from Sipiagin 's village . To get to Borsionkov from Sipiagin 's , one had to go through the town . Our new friends had scarcely time to exchange a hundred words when glimpses of the mean little dwellings of shopkeepers on the outskirts of the town flashed past them , little dwellings with shabby wooden roofs , from which faint patches of light could be seen through crooked little windows ; the wheels soon rattled over the town bridge , paved with cobble stones ; the carriage gave a jerk , rocked from side to side , and swaying with every jolt , rolled past the stupid two-storied stone houses , with imposing frontals , inhabited by merchants , past the church , ornamented with pillars , past the shops ... .