He went to the office of the company whose boats plied between Nijni-Novgorod and Perm.

There, to his great annoyance, he found that no boat started for Perm till the following day at twelve o'clock.

Seventeen hours to wait! It was very vexatious to a man so pressed for time.

However, he never senselessly murmured.

Besides, the fact was that no other conveyance could take him so quickly either to Perm or Kasan.