five in the afternoon
Its high ceilings and spacious rooms were of the type which architects drew in the early nineteenth century , when labor cost but its feed and materials were everywhere at hand . Just as the bricks in the outside walls were laid `` every other one a header , '' so the interior spoke of a style which went out of existence three generations ago . More recently , however , the Colonel had added a furnace and baths , converting for the latter several entire bed-rooms with which Arden was over supplied . Thus Bachelors ' Belfry might have been considered the most agreeable , even as the most isolated , portion of the house ; and , as its occupants passed a law forbidding women servants to ascend above the second floor between five in the afternoon and nine in the morning , conventions of attire were not by your leave , but as you please . Tonight Brent had gone up early . At dinner he had been distrait ; nor even his poise could quite disguise it . The Colonel had suggested a smoke and chat out on the porch where the air was soft and still and cool , but Brent could not find it in his heart to stay .