a quarter past nine
`` So it would ! '' answered Dr. Alec delightedly . `` So it has , '' added Archie to himself ; and he was right , for just at that moment he fell in love with Phebe . He actually did , and could fix the time almost to a second , for at a quarter past nine , he merely thought her a very charming young person ; at twenty minutes past , he considered her the loveliest woman he ever beheld ; at five and twenty minutes past , she was an angel singing his soul away ; and at half after nine he was a lost man , floating over a delicious sea to that temporary heaven on earth where lovers usually land after the first rapturous plunge . If anyone had mentioned this astonishing fact , nobody would have believed it ; nevertheless , it was quite true , and sober , businesslike Archie suddenly discovered a fund of romance at the bottom of his hitherto well-conducted heart that amazed him . He was not quite clear what had happened to him at first , and sat about in a dazed sort of way , seeing , hearing , knowing nothing but Phebe , while the unconscious idol found something wanting in the cordial praise so modestly received because Mr. Archie never said a word . This was one of the remarkable things which occurred that evening .