quarter to five
She left this at Wanamaker 's , ducking and dodging through the crowded aisles . She selected this hour because , being a woman , she knew that the press of shoppers would be the greatest during the day . Karlov 's man and the secret-service operative detailed by Cutty both made the same mistake -- followed Kitty into the dry-goods shop and lost her as completely as if she had popped up in China . At quarter to five she stepped into Elevator Number Four of the building which Cutty called his home , very well pleased with herself . To understand Kitty at this moment one must be able to understand the Irish ; and nobody does or can or will . Consider her twenty-four years , her corpuscular inheritance , the love of drama and the love of adventure . Imagine possessing sound ideas of life and the ability to apply them , and spiritually always galloping off on some broad highway -- more often than not furnished by some engaging scoundrel of a novelist -- and you will be able to construct a half tone of Kitty Conover .