ten o'clock
I ca n't very well leave the Touricar now , and I do n't know as I 've got my flying nerve back yet . Besides , Ruth -- '' Always he thought of Ruth , uneasy with the desire to be out dancing , laughing , playing with her . He was tormented by a question he had been threshing out for days : Might he permissibly have sent her a Christmas present ? He went to bed at ten o'clock -- on Christmas Eve , when the streets were surging with voices and gay steps , when rollicking piano-tunes from across the street penetrated even closed windows , and a German voice as rich as milk chocolate was caressing , '' _ Oh Tannenbaum , oh Tannenbaum , wie grün sind deine Blätter . _ '' ... Then slept for nine hours , woke with rapturous remembrance that he did n't have to go to the office , and sang `` The Banks of the Saskatchewan '' in his bath . When he returned to the house , after breakfast , he found a letter from Ruth : The Day before Xmas & all thru the Mansion The Maids with Turkey are Stirring -- Please Pardon the Scansion . DEAR PLAYMATE , -- You said on our tramp that I would make a good playmate , but I 'm sure that I should be a very poor one if I did not wish you a gloriously merry Xmas & a New Year that will bring you all the dear things you want .