about three o'clock in the afternoon
However , at this moment she was talking quietly to herself in a foreign tongue , yet the language she was making an attempt to practice was French and not Russian . Since the entry of the United States into the world war , New York City had been exchanging peoples as well as material supplies with her Allies to so large an extent that _ one _ language was no longer sufficient even for the requirements of one 's own country . Finally , still reciting her broken sentences almost as if she were rehearsing a part in a play , Vera walked over to a front window and stood gazing expectantly out into the Square as if she were looking for some one . It was about three o'clock in the afternoon and the neighborhood was almost deserted . In the paths beyond the Washington Arch a few children were playing . Now and then an occasional man or woman passed along the street , to vanish into a house or apartment building . A few taxis and private cars rolled by , but not one made even a pretence of stopping before the rose-colored brick house .