midnight
Dr. Blake complied . He had intended to stay an hour at this first formal call . He had hoped to be led on , by gentle feminine wiles , to add another hour . He had even dreamed that Aunt Paula might be so impressed by him as to hold him until midnight . As a matter of fact , he left the house just thirty-five minutes after he entered . Just why he retreated so early in the engagement , he had only the vaguest idea . Even fresh from it as he was , he could not enumerate the small stings , the myriad minor goads , by which it became established in his mind that his call was not a success , that he was boring the two ladies whom he was trying so hard to entertain .