six o’clock
She got the habit of inviting friends in to judge it , and she was always of the opinion of the last friend ; so the production was like a ship whose pilot has lost his bearings . The time drew near for the opening-performance , which was to be given in a manufacturing city in New England . The nerves of all the company were stretched to the breaking point ; and overwrought as he was himself , Thyrsis could not but pity the unhappy `` leading lady '' , who could hardly keep herself together , even with the drugs he saw her taking . The `` dress-rehearsal '' began at six o'clock on Sunday evening ; and from the very start everything went wrong . But Thyrsis did not know the peculiar fact about dress-rehearsals , that everything always goes wrong ; and so he suffered untellable agonies at the sight of the blundering and stupidity . Mr. Tapping stormed and fumed and hopped about the stage , and swore , first at his gouty foot , and then at some member of the company ; and he sent them back , over and over again through the scenes -- it was midnight before they finished the first act , and it was six o'clock in the morning before they finished the second , and it was nearly noon of Monday before the wretched men and women went home to sleep . Thyrsis had left before that , partly because he could not endure to see the mess that things were in , and partly because they told him he would have to make a speech that night , and he had to spend two of his hardearned dollars for the hire of a dress-suit .