ten o'clock
Miss Lavinia was fascinated by the lights and motion of Herald Square , and at her suggestion , it being but a little past ten , we strolled homeward down Broadway instead of taking a car . Her delight at the crowd of promenaders , the picturesque florists ' shops , and the general buzz of night life was almost pathetic . Her after-dark experience having been to get to and from specified places as quickly as possible with Lucy for escort , solicitous when in a street car lest they should pass their destination , and trembling even more when in a cab lest the driver should have committed the variable and expansive crime of `` taking something . '' She bought a `` ten o'clock edition '' of the _ Telegram _ , some of `` Match Mary 's '' wares , that perennially middle-aged woman who haunts the theatre region , and suggested that we have ice-cream soda at a particularly glittering drug store , but this desire was switched into hot bouillon by Evan , who retains the Englishman 's dislike of chilling his internals . New York is really a fine city by night , that is , in parts at least , and yet it is very strange how comparatively few of the rank and file of its inhabitants walk abroad to see the spectacle . By lamplight the scars and wounds of subways appear less vivid , and the perpetual skeleton of the skyscraper merges in its background . The occasional good bit of architecture steps out boldly from the surrounding shadows of daylight discouragement .