6:30
He likes to dine outside of the family vault . But Betsy , I found , had dashed home to greet a visiting grandparent , and Percy was playing bridge in the village . It 's seldom the young thing gets out of an evening , and I 'm glad for him to have a little cheerful diversion . So it ended in the doctor 's and my dining tete-a-tete on a hastily improvised dinner , -- it was then close upon eight , and our normal dinner hour is 6:30 , -- but it was such an improvised dinner as I am sure Mrs. McGurk never served him . Sallie , wishing to impress me with her invaluableness , did her absolutely Southern best . And after dinner we had coffee before the fire in my comfortable blue library , while the wind howled outside and the shutters banged . We passed a most cordial and intimate evening .