nine o'clock
This is the age of nerves ; there is no help for it . '' At supper he drank some wine , and , from time to time , with an abrupt sigh rubbed his side as though to suggest that he still felt the pain . And no one , except Nadyezhda Fyodorovna , believed him , and he saw that . After nine o'clock they went for a walk on the boulevard . Nadyezhda Fyodorovna , afraid that Kirilin would speak to her , did her best to keep all the time beside Marya Konstantinovna and the children . She felt weak with fear and misery , and felt she was going to be feverish ; she was exhausted and her legs would hardly move , but she did not go home , because she felt sure that she would be followed by Kirilin or Atchmianov or both at once . Kirilin walked behind her with Nikodim Alexandritch , and kept humming in an undertone : `` I do n't al-low people to play with me !