about
three A.M.
`` Eloped ! '' says he , as though he 'd never heard the word before . `` Why , no -- er -- that is , we just went out and -- and -- '' Oh , no , they had n't eloped ! They 'd merely slid out of the ballroom about three A.M. , after dancin ' seventeen waltzes together , snuggled into a hansom cab , and rode around the park until daylight talkin ' it over . Then she 'd slipped back into the house , got into her travelin ' dress while he was off changin ' his clothes , met again at eight o'clock , chased down to City Hall after a license , and then dragged a young rector away from his boiled eggs and toast to splice 'em . But Skid did n't call that elopin ' . Why , Sis had left word with the butler to tell her friends all about it , and the first thing they did after it was over was to send a forty-word collect telegram to papa .