three
o'clock
Hurstwood once asked , concealing almost completely the cynical protest and regret which prompted it . `` No ; I was looking around for another place , '' said Carrie . As a matter of fact she was , but only in such a way as furnished the least straw of an excuse . Miss Osborne and she had gone to the office of the manager who was to produce the new opera at the Broadway and returned straight to the former 's room , where they had been since three o'clock . Carrie felt this question to be an infringement on her liberty . She did not take into account how much liberty she was securing . Only the latest step , the newest freedom , must not be questioned .