about nine
o'clock in the evening
Five days after the occurrences just described , in the middle of the afternoon , Miss Julia Fairfield rode out in her carriage alone , driven by the black , Nero . The vehicle stopped before a house of respectable exterior , in Washington street , and the young lady was assisted to alight ; entering the house , she was received by an elderly female , who immediately conducted her to a private room , which contained a bed and furniture of a neat but unostentatious description . The carriage drove away , and Julia remained several hours in the house . At about nine o'clock in the evening , the carriage returned , and she was assisted to enter , being apparently in a very feeble and unwell condition . She reached her own dwelling , and for over a week remained in her chamber , under plea of severe indisposition . When at length she made her appearance , she looked extremely pale , and somewhat emaciated ; yet , for the first time in several months , she wore a tight-fitting dress , and her father , unconscious of her crimes , good-naturedly expressed his joy at seeing her ` once more dressed like a Christian lady , and not in the loose and slatternly robes she had so long persisted in wearing . ' The next morning after her visits to the house on Washington Street , the newspapers contained a notice of the discovery of the body of a newborn mulatto child , in the water off the Bowery .