a half before
eight o'clock
The minutes lagged unaccountably , the hours crawled forward at the most snail-like pace , and his impatience at this was tempered to a satirical amusement by the fact that the entire world of his friends seemed banded together in a conspiracy to engage his society for that particular evening . He had , as night drew on , a breathless and excited sense of eluding and escaping them , and dressed with the emotions of the criminal who realizes that the sleuths are hard upon his trail . It is unnecessary to say that he was early at the Gildersleeve , and managed to secure a table which commanded a view of the entire room . He had an hour and a half before eight o'clock , and he put as much of it in as possible in ordering a carefully chosen dinner , taking an incredible time over it , for , as the fever of his anticipation ran high , his manner became the more cool and leisurely , a temperamental trait of his . He ate his soup as slowly as possible , and glanced about at the tables now rapidly filling up with all the laughing groups of men and women who would be going on to the theater and the opera a little later . The music was charmingly subdued ; a whiff of fragrance from the flowers on his table reached him . He liked the atmosphere of this hotel , quiet , restful , and handsome after a restrained and sober fashion ; and then , all at once , the surroundings , the groups at the tables , the waiters passing to and fro , the appealing music , the noise and hum of conversation lost life and motion and color , and became the mere tapestry against which she alone moved .