nine o'clock before
Every penny counted . Every penny meant release . After dinner Maxine and her mother sat down to eat off the edge of the kitchen table . It was often nine o'clock before the last straggling diner , sprawling on the parlour davenport with his evening paper and cigar , departed , leaving Maxine to pick up the scattered newspapers , cigarette butts , ashes ; straighten chairs , lock doors . Then the dishes . The dishes ! When Arnold Hatch asked her to go to a movie she shook her head , usually .