ten o'clock
He had hitherto only known Chopin 's music as played in the sentimental fashion of the English drawing-room . Here , now , came some one who made it clear that , no matter how pessimistic it appeared on the surface , this music was , at its core an essentially masculine music ; it kicked desperately against the pricks of existence ; what failed it was only the last philosophic calm . He could not , of course , know that various small things had combined to throw the player into one of his most prodigal moods : the rescue and taming of the cat , the passage-at-arms with Avery , her stimulating forbiddal , and , last and best , the one silent listener in the dark -- this stranger , picked up at random in the streets , who had never yet heard him play , and to whom he might reveal himself with an indecency that friendship precluded . When at length , Frau Schulz entered , in her bed-jacket , to say that it was long past ten o'clock , Krafft wakened as if out of a trance , and hid his eyes from the light . Frau Schulz , a robust person , disregarded his protests , and herself locked the piano and took the key . `` She makes me promise to , '' she whispered to Maurice , pointing over her shoulder at an imaginary person . `` If I did n't , he 'd go on all night .