nine
o'clock
No doubt these maxims were sound and wise ; but how was he to apply them ? How could he pretend indifference when at sight of her he could open his jaws only enough to chatter them , could loosen his tongue only enough to roll it thickly about ? `` I can work , '' he said to himself , `` and I can pay my debts and have something over ; but when it comes to love I 'm no good . '' Hilda returned to her father 's shop and was busy there until nine o'clock . Then Sophie Liebers came and they went into the Avenue for a walk . They pushed their way through and with the throngs up into Tompkins Square -- the center of one of the several vast districts , little known because little written about , that contain the real New York and the real New Yorkers . In the Square several thousand young people were promenading , many of the girls walking in pairs , almost all the young men paired off , each with a young woman .