six o'clock in the morning
He called for a toothpick . On the boardwalk at Atlantic City , that much-enduring seashore resort which has been the birthplace of so many musical plays , there stands an all-day and all-night restaurant , under the same management and offering the same hospitality as the one in Columbus Circle at which Jill had taken her first meal on arriving in New York . At least , its hospitality is noisy during the waking and working hours of the day ; but there are moments when it has an almost cloistral peace , and the customer , abashed by the cold calm of its snowy marble and the silent gravity of the white-robed attendants , unconsciously lowers his voice and tries to keep his feet from shuffling , like one in a temple . The members of the chorus of `` The Rose of America , '' dropping in by ones and twos at six o'clock in the morning about two weeks after the events recorded in the last chapter , spoke in whispers and gave their orders for breakfast in a subdued undertone . The dress-rehearsal had just dragged its weary length to a close . It is the custom of the dwellers in Atlantic City , who seem to live entirely by pleasure , to attend a species of vaudeville performances -- incorrectly termed a sacred concert -- on Sunday nights , and it had been one o'clock in the morning before the concert scenery could be moved out of the theatre and the first act set of `` The Rose of America '' moved in . And , as by some unwritten law of the drama no dress-rehearsal can begin without a delay of at least an hour and a half , the curtain had not gone up on Mr. Miller 's opening chorus till half-past two .