nearly
midnight
For several weeks the Grays did not see much of Mrs. Cary . She appeared at dinner and supper , eating little and saying less . She rose very late , having a cup of coffee in bed about ten ; the afternoons she spent rambling through the fields and along the river-bank , but never going near the highroad on her long walks . She generally read until nearly midnight , and the book-hungry Grays pounced like tigers on the newspapers and magazines with which she heaped her scrap-baskets , and longed for the time to come when she would offer to lend them some of the books piled high all around her rooms . Some years before , when vacationists demanded less in the way of amusement , Hamstead had flourished in a mild way as a summer-resort ; but its brief day of prosperity in this respect had passed , and the advent of a wealthy and mysterious stranger , whose mail was larger than that of all the rest of the population put together , but who never appeared in public , or even spoke , apparently , in private , threw the entire village into a ferment of excitement . Fred Elliott , who , in his rôle of prospective son-in-law , might be expected to know much that was going on at the Grays ' , was `` pumped '' in vain ; he was obliged to confess his entire ignorance concerning the history , occupations , and future intentions of the young widow . Mrs. Gray had to `` house-clean '' her parlor a month earlier than she had intended , because she had so many callers who came hoping to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Cary , and hear all about her , besides ; but they did not see her at all , and Mrs. Gray could tell them but little .