six
o'clock
The husband and father was an insurance broker , whose very modest income might have comfortably supported a quiet country home , and one maid , and eventually have been stretched to afford the daughter and only child a college education or a trousseau as circumstances decreed . As it was , a little house on Broadway was maintained with every appearance of luxury , a capped-and-aproned maid backed before guests through the tiny hall ; Connie 's vivacity covered the long wait for the luncheons that an irate Chinese cook , whose wages were perpetually in arrears , served when it pleased him to do so . Mrs. Fox bought prizes for Connie 's gay little card-parties with the rent money , and retired with a headache immediately after tearfully informing the harassed breadwinner of the fact . She ironed Connie 's gowns , bullied her little dressmaker , cried and made empty promises to her milliner , cut her old friends , telephoned her husband at six o'clock that , as `` the girls '' had not gone yet , perhaps he had better have a bite of dinner downtown . She gushed and beamed on Connie 's friends , cultivated those she could reach assiduously , and never dreamed that a great many people were watching her with amusement when she worked her way about a room to squeeze herself in next to some social potentate . She had her reward when the mail brought Constance the coveted dance-cards ; when she saw her name in the society columns of the newspapers , and was able to announce carelessly that that lucky girlie of hers was really going to Honolulu with the Cyrus Holmes . Dolly Ripley , the heiress , had taken a sudden fancy to Connie , some two years before Susan met her , and this alone was enough to reward Mrs. Fox for all the privations , snubs and humiliations she had suffered since the years when she curled Connie 's straight hair on a stick , nearly blinded herself tucking and embroidering her little dresses , and finished up the week 's ironing herself so that her one maid could escort Connie to an exclusive little dancing-class .