eight
o'clock
`` I do n't understand it , my boy . But I think , indeed I prefer to think , that your father was not quite himself all this summer . A man like your father does not , in his right senses , find pleasure in the society of an ignorant , common little girl . He does not make a practise of keeping her at the office after hours , often until eight o'clock , or take her to restaurants and to the theater with him ; not , at least , in a slanderous city like New York . '' Harold flinched before McQuiston 's meaning gaze and turned aside in pained silence . He knew , as a dramatist , that there are dark chapters in all men 's lives , and this but too clearly explained why his father had stayed in town all summer instead of joining his family . McQuiston asked if he should ring for Annie Wooley .