ten minutes to four
He hitched his shoulders about and kept going to the mirror to inspect the fit of the collar . He repeatedly re brushed his hair , regarding the unclean state of his military brushes with disgust . About six times he went to the window to see if it had started to snow . At ten minutes to four he sternly jerked on his coat and walked far north of Ninety-second Street , then back . He arrived at a quarter to five , but persuaded himself that this was a smarter hour of arrival than five . Ruth Winslow 's home proved to be a rather ordinary three-story-and-basement gray stone dwelling , with heavy Russian net curtains at the broad , clear-glassed windows of the first floor , and an attempt to escape from the stern drabness of the older type of New York houses by introducing a box-stoop and steps with a carved stone balustrade , at the top of which perched a meek old lion of 1890 , with battered ears and a truly sensitive stone nose . A typical house of the very well-to-do yet not wealthy `` upper middle class '' ; a house predicating one motor-car , three not expensive maids , brief European tours , and the best preparatory schools and colleges for the sons .