about nine
o'clock
It had been a warm day , and the evening cool was welcome and laughter floated out into the street . It was laughter over nothing , but irresistible , induced because of the girl 's exuberant mood . She felt that night as if there was no meaning in the world except happiness and fun . George Ramsey , going home about nine o'clock , heard the laughter , and shrugged his shoulders rather bitterly . Lily had made him such a good wife , according to the tenets of wifehood , that he had apparently no reason to complain . She was always perfectly amiable and affectionate , not violently affectionate , but with the sort of affection which does not ruffle laces nor disarrange hair , and that he had always considered the most desirable sort of affection in the long-run . She and his mother got on very well also -- that is , apparently .