eight o'clock in the
evening
Had he ventured love-making in the afternoon , all would have been well , for it would have been as the quiet gentleman that he would have made love -- but at night it was the uncouth , wife-stealing savage of the dark German forests . Out of his wisdom , he decided that afternoon love-making could be prosecuted successfully ; but out of the same wisdom he was convinced that marriage as would prove a ghastly failure . He found it appalling to imagine being married and encountering his wife after dark . So he had eschewed all love-making , regulated his dual life , cleaned up a million in business , fought shy of match-making mamas and bright-eyed and eager young ladies of various ages , met Lilian Gersdale and made it a rigid observance never to see her later than eight o'clock in the evening , run of nights after his coyotes , and slept in forest lairs -- and through it all had kept his secret safe save Lee Sing ... and now , Dave Slotter . It was the latter 's discovery of both his selves that frightened him . In spite of the counter fright he had given the burglar , the latter might talk . And even if he did not , sooner or later he would be found out by some one else .