three o'clock
Ruth was compelled to hire a man to stand on the doorstep to keep them out . The Ransom house was barred , but Gordon could not escape . He saw at once that they knew so much it was useless to make denials , and he prepared a statement for the press , giving the facts and his plans for the future in a ringing address . He submitted it to Kate for her approval , and at three o'clock gave it out for publication . Their love secret had not been fathomed , but it had been guessed . He feared the reports would be so written that it would be read between the lines and a great deal more implied . His revolutionary views on marriage and divorce and the fact that he was from Indiana , a state that had granted the year before nearly five thousand divorces , one for every five marriages celebrated , -- were made the subject of special treatment by one paper .