midnight
And when it comes to sleeping another night on a bed like a gridiron , no -- thank -- _ you _ ! And believe me , if I see that old rube hotel-keeper comb his whiskers at the hall hat-rack again -- he keeps a baby comb in his vest pocket with a lead-pencil and a cigar some drummer gave him -- if I have to watch him comb that alfalfa again I 'll bite his ears off and get pinched by the S. P. C. A. ! '' With Mrs. Lubley , the old lady and complacent unofficial chaperon of the show , Eve was going to imitate Carl and the two bandsmen , and sleep in the dressing-room tent , over half of which was devoted to the women of the company . Every day Carl warned himself that he must go no farther , but every night as Eve and he parted , to sleep with only a canvas partition between them , he cursed the presence of the show chaperon , and of the two bandsmen , always distressingly awake and talking till after midnight . A hot June night . The whole company had been invited to a dance at the U. C. V. Hall ; the two bandsmen were going ; the chaperon -- lively old lady with experience on the burlesque circuit -- was gaily going . Carl and Eve were not .