ten o'clock in the evening
There were espaliers of fruit-trees , a pear-tree in the shape of a pyramidal poplar , spherical oaks and lime-trees , an apple-tree in the shape of an umbrella , plum-trees trained into arches , crests , candelabra , and even into the number 1862 -- the year when Pesotsky first took up horticulture . One came across , too , lovely , graceful trees with strong , straight stems like palms , and it was only by looking intently that one could recognise these trees as gooseberries or currants . But what made the garden most cheerful and gave it a lively air , was the continual coming and going in it , from early morning till evening ; people with wheelbarrows , shovels , and watering-cans swarmed round the trees and bushes , in the avenues and the flower-beds , like ants ... . Kovrin arrived at Pesotsky 's at ten o'clock in the evening . He found Tanya and her father , Yegor Semyonitch , in great anxiety . The clear starlight sky and the thermometer foretold a frost towards morning , and meanwhile Ivan Karlovitch , the gardener , had gone to the town , and they had no one to rely upon . At supper they talked of nothing but the morning frost , and it was settled that Tanya should not go to bed , and between twelve and one should walk through the garden , and see that everything was done properly , and Yegor Semyonitch should get up at three o'clock or even earlier .