noon
Fear and flattery were universal . '' -- _ Tourgenieff . _ -RSB- -LSB- Footnote 2 : Leroy-Boileau . -RSB- A clear April morning was dawning when Basilivitch saddled his horse and rode off in the direction of Alexandrovsk , at which place he arrived at noon and at once repaired to the Governor 's residence . A crowd of idle and flashily-dressed servants , all of whom were serfs , lounged about the new and stately palace , and found exhilarating amusement in setting their ferocious dogs upon the unoffending farmers who happened to pass that way . The greater the fear evinced by the victims , the greater was the delight of the humorously inclined menials , and if perchance a dog succeeded in fixing his fangs in the garments or calf of a pedestrian their mirth found vent in ecstatic shouts of laughter . Basilivitch had on more than one occasion been upon such errands as that which brought him to-day , and seemed on terms of familiarity with the liveried guardians of the palace .