eleven o’clock
These he thinks will suit his purpose as well as anything else , so he takes up the notes , but before making use of them , reads their contents over for the second time -- partly by way of caution , partly though a dawdling habit , which men of his absent disposition are always too ready to contract . Three of these letters happen to be in the same scrambling , blotted handwriting . They are none of them very long , and are the production of a former acquaintance of the reader 's , who has somewhat altered in height and personal appearance during the course of the last fourteen years . Here is the first of the notes which Valentine is now reading : -- `` Dear Blyth , -- My father says Theaters are the Devil 's Houses , and I must be home by eleven o'clock . I 'm sure I never did anything wrong at a Theater , which I might not have done just the same anywhere else ; unless laughing over a good play is one of the _ national sins _ he 's always talking about . I ca n't stand it much longer , even for my mother 's sake ! You are my only friend .