quarter to nine
`` Oh , hush , you 're the most disagreeable person ! I wish Lila had n't gone home . Well , she did just that . She said the artistic temperament was no excuse for discourteous falsehood -- or she almost the same as said it -- meaning breaking your word , you know , for Sara had promised she would come at eight , and there it was quarter to nine . She said that it might be wiser next time to invite somebody more reliable about keeping engagements . Sara did not answer a word -- only went white as a sheet and walked out of the room . Now she even cuts us -- because we were there -- stares right over our heads when we meet her anywhere . ''