Itwas late evening

The adjectives early, late, broad and high do not describe any
part of the day here, but just indicate the time of the day with
more precision. (Morning refers to a longer period of the day
than early morning or late morning.)

4) In many cases the use of articles with nouns denoting parts
of the day has become traditional.

a) In some prepositional phrases either the definite article or
no article is found. They are to be treated as set phrases. The def-
inite article is used in: in the afternoon, in the daytime, in the
evening, in the morning, in the night. No article is used after the
prepositions at, by, about, past, before, after, towards, till, until,
e.g. at night, at dawn, by day ('днем'), by night ('ночью'), by
noon ('к полудню'), by midnight ('к полуночи'), past noon, about
midnight, before dawn, after sunset, etc.

e.g. I would take pills at night to make me sleep quickly, but I
never found any pills that would keep me asleep till day-
light.

Rain was now falling in sheets as it so often did before dawn.

After midnight I walked to the beach with him, sad to see him
leave so soon.

b) There is no article with the nouns morning, day and dawn
when they are used as subject to the verbs to break, to be at hand;
the same is true of the nouns evening, night, dusk when they are
followed by the verbs to fall, to gather, to set in, to be at hand, to
come.

e.g. Day was breaking when we set out.

The sky was overcast and dusk fell early.

Dawn was breaking among the olives, silvering their still
leaves.

c) There is no article with nouns denoting parts of the day
when they are modified by the names of the days of the week and
the words tomorrow and yesterday.

e.g. I went to Aunt Milly's house on Friday evening.