nine o’clock
cried Miss Sallie . `` But it 's quite true , dear Aunt Sallie . Mamma was visiting at a house party in the South , somewhere , and she had a headache and stayed home from a ball , and was sitting in the library . Papa came a-calling on one of the others , and was ushered into the library , by mistake , and introduced himself to mamma -- and she forgot her headache and he forgot he was due to catch a train to New York at nine o'clock . It was simply a case of love at first sight . '' `` My dear , I am not looking for any such romantic adventures , '' said Miss Sallie , bridling . `` Your father was an intimate friend of the family at whose house your mother was stopping .