ten o'clock at night
Poor Miss Frost , who had seemed almost to blossom again in the long hot days , regaining a free cheerfulness that amounted almost to liveliness , and who even caused a sort of scandal by her intimacy with a rather handsome but common stranger , an insurance agent who had come into the place with a good , unused tenor voice -- now she wilted again . She had given the rather florid young man tea in her room , and had laboured away at his fine , metallic voice , correcting him and teaching him and laughing with him and spending really a remarkable number of hours alone with him in her room in Woodhouse -- for she had given up tramping the country , and had hired a music-room in a quiet street , where she gave her lessons . And the young man had hung round , and had never wanted to go away . They would prolong their tête-à-tête and their singing on till ten o'clock at night , and Miss Frost would return to Manchester House flushed and handsome and a little shy , while the young man , who was common , took on a new boldness in the streets . He had auburn hair , high colouring , and a rather challenging bearing . He took on a new boldness , his own estimate of himself rose considerably , with Miss Frost and his trained voice to justify him . He was a little insolent and condescending to the natives , who disliked him .