about eleven o'clock in the morning
He had changed some of the words and she had improved the melody . The work on the accompaniment was progressing finely now , and Billy was so glad ! -- when she was absorbed in her music she forgot sometimes that she was ever so unfit an artist 's sweetheart as to be -- jealous of a portrait . It was quite early in the month that the usually expected `` January thaw '' came , and it was on a comparatively mild Friday at this time that a matter of business took Billy into the neighborhood of Symphony Hall at about eleven o'clock in the morning . Dismissing John and the car upon her arrival , she said that she would later walk to the home of a friend near by , where she would remain until it was time for the Symphony Concert . This friend was a girl whom Billy had known at school . She was studying now at the Conservatory of Music ; and she had often urged Billy to come and have luncheon with her in her tiny apartment , which she shared with three other girls and a widowed aunt for housekeeper .