nine o'clock
It was necessary to invite Peabody because it was his great good fortune to be engaged to Miss Forbes . Her brother Sam had been invited , not only because he could act as chaperon for his sister , but because since they were at St. Paul 's , Winthrop and he , either as participants or spectators , had never missed going together to the Yale-Harvard game . And Beatrice Forbes herself had been invited because she was herself . When at nine o'clock on the morning of the game , Winthrop stopped the car in front of her door , he was in love with all the world . In the November air there was a sting like frost-bitten cider , in the sky there was a brilliant , beautiful sun , in the wind was the tingling touch of three ice-chilled rivers . And in the big house facing Central Park , outside of which his prancing steed of brass and scarlet chugged and protested and trembled with impatience , was the most wonderful girl in all the world . It was true she was engaged to be married , and not to him .