four o'clock
Now , for the first time in his emotional life , he was stirred by a girl 's mere prettiness -- a quite unusual prettiness , it had to be admitted ; a slightly haggard prettiness , perhaps ; a prettiness a little worn by work , a little coarsened by wind and weather ; a prettiness too desperate for youth and too tragic for coquetry , but for those very reasons doubtless all the more haunting . He was obliged to remind himself that it was nothing to him , since he had never swerved from the intention to marry Lois Willoughby as soon as he had made a start in practice and come into the money he was to get at thirty ; but he could see it was the sort of thing by which other men might be affected , and came to a mental standstill there . Driving on into the city , he went straight to his father 's office in Commonwealth Row . It was already after four o'clock , and except for two young men sorting checks and putting away ledgers , the cagelike divisions of the banking department were empty . One of the men was whistling ; the other was calling in a loud , gay voice , `` Say , Cheever , what about to-night ? '' -- signs that the enforced decorum of the day was past . Claude was in the outer office reserved for customers .