nine o'clock
He wanted to tell her now ; but it was a task beyond him to ask her to forfeit her own fortune until he could replace it by another . Times were hard , he reflected . He was now twelve hours behind his schedule and possessed of sixty thousand dollars less than he should have . At nine o'clock to-morrow morning that deficit would begin to pile up again at the rate of five thousand dollars an hour . By comparison their auto seemed slow , and he spoke to the driver about it . How well Constance Joy was in sympathy with him and followed his thought , was shown by the fact that she heartily agreed with him , though they were already exceeding the Brooklyn speed limit . `` I not only want to be the chaperon but the dictator of this tour , '' declared Winnie when they alighted at the big playground .