ten minutes to nine
Miss Tooker has assumed a June poster pose ; Mrs. Pothunter has bitten her lips to make the red show ; Reeves has several times felt his coat to make sure that his latest poem is in the pocket . -LRB- It had been neatly typewritten ; but he has copied it on the backs of letters with a pencil . -RRB- Kappelman is underhandedly watching the clock . It is ten minutes to nine . When the hour comes it is to remind him of a story . Synopsis : A French girl says to her suitor : `` Did you ask my father for my hand at nine o'clock this morning , as you said you would ? '' `` I did not , '' he .