two o'clock
She was anxious to make a favourable impression on the financier , so she took some pains with her personal appearance . She always looked stylish , no matter what she wore , and her poverty was of too recent date to make much difference to her wardrobe , which was still well supplied with Paris-made gowns . She selected a simple close-fitting gown of gray chiffon cloth and a picture hat of Leghorn straw heaped with red roses , Shirley 's favourite flower . Thus arrayed , she sallied forth at two o'clock -- a little gray mouse to do battle with the formidable lion . The sky was threatening , so instead of walking a short way up Fifth Avenue for exercise , as she had intended doing , she cut across town through Ninth Street , and took the surface car on Fourth Avenue . This would put her down at Madison Avenue and Seventy-fourth Street , which was only a block from the Ryder residence . She looked so pretty and was so well dressed that the passers-by who looked after her wondered why she did not take a cab instead of standing on a street corner for a car .