six o'clock
He left Clancey 's presently , stepping high , with a mind elate ; foretasting victory ; convinced that he harboured within him the makings of a devil of a fellow , all the essential qualifications of -LRB- not to put _ too _ fine a point upon it -RRB- a regular wag ... With a feeling of some guilt , becoming in one who stoops to unworthy artifice , P. Sybarite walked slowly on up Broadway a little way , then doubled on his trail , going softly until a swift and stealthy survey westward from the corner of Thirty-eighth Street assured him that George was not skulking thereabouts to spy upon him . Then mending his pace , he held briskly on toward the shopping district . From afar the clock recently restored to its coign high above unlovely Greeley Square warned him that his hour was fleeting : in twenty minutes it would be six o'clock ; at six , sharp , Blessington 's would close its doors . Distressed , he scurried on , crossed Thirty-fourth Street , aimed himself courageously for the wide entrance of the department store , battled manfully through the retreating army of feminine shoppers -- and gained the glove counter with a good fifteen minutes to spare . And there he halted , confused and blushing in recognition of circumstances as unpropitious as unforeseen . These consisted in three girls behind the counter and one customer before it ; the latter commanding the attention and services of a fair young woman with a pleasant manner ; while of the two disengaged saleswomen , one bold , disdainful brunette was preoccupied with her back hair and prepared mutinously to ignore anything remotely resembling a belated customer whose demands might busy her beyond the closing hour , and the other had a merry eye and a receptive smile for the hesitant little man with the funny clothes and the quaint pink face of embarrassment .