three o'clock
in the afternoon
The ordinary man he would not have feared in any meeting ; of the woman he was about to meet he had some apprehension . He knew her quality , but -- she had worked for him a tie ! He went up the broad path to the doorway , between flowers and trees and shrubbery . It was three o'clock in the afternoon , and he would find her alone , he thought , for chances of calls are not so great in the smaller towns as in the cities ; there is an average to be maintained , and Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Smith does not receive on days particularized . He was compelled to wait in the parlor but a moment . She came in , and he saw her for the first time in two years . What a gift women have in producing physical effects upon the creature male , no matter what the woman 's status .