three o'clock
he cried resentfully . `` Where 's your manners ? ... Perceval ! '' Dumb with impotent rage , P. Sybarite climbed back on his stool , while George sat down at his desk , lighted a Sweet Caporal -LRB- it was after three o'clock and both the partners were gone for the day -RRB- and with a leer watched the bookkeeper carefully slit the envelope and withdraw its enclosures . Ignoring him , P. Sybarite ran his eye through the few lines of notably careless feminine handwriting : MY DEAR PERCEVAL , -- Mother & I had planned to take some friends to the theatre to-night and bought a box for the Knickerbocker several weeks ago , but now we have decided to go to Mrs. Hadley-Owen 's post-Lenten masquerade ball instead , and as none of our friends can use the tickets , I thought possibly you might like them . They say Otis Skinner is _ wonderful _ . Of course you may not care to sit in a stage box without a dress suit , but perhaps you wo n't mind .