one o'clock
intrigued with a note at once pleading and imperative which decided Lanyard to answer it without delay , in person . '' _ Au Printemps -- one o'clock -- please _ ! '' Upon the screen of memory there flashed a blurred vision of an electric sign emblazoning the phrase , `` Au Printemps , '' against the façade of a building with windows all blind and dark save those of the street level , which glowed pink with light filtered through silken hangings ; a building which Lanyard had already passed thrice that night without , in the preoccupation of his purpose , paying it any heed ; a building on Broadway somewhere above Columbus Circle , if he were not mistaken . Already it was one o'clock . Fortunately he was still in evening dress , and needed only to change collar and tie to repair the disarray caused by his encounter with Ekstrom . In two minutes he was once more in the street . Within five a cab deposited him in front of the Restaurant Au Printemps , an institution of midnight New York whose title for distinction resided mainly in the fact that it opened its upper floors for the diversion of `` members '' about the time when others put up their shutters .