four o’clock
From carriages and other automobiles , and along the promenades , everyone smiled at the crimson car full of happy , laughing girls . Ruth was driving in her best fashion , making all the speed she could , with the thought of town fifty miles or more ahead . `` It is a sight to see , '' quoth Barbara , `` the way the fairy princess handles her chariot of fire . '' It was a little after four o'clock when the car boarded the Staten Island ferry and finally crossed to the New York shore . `` You see , Bab , '' Mollie said , trying to stuff her curls under her motor cap and to rub the dust from her rosy cheeks with a tiny pocket handkerchief as they sped up Broadway , `` I might be dreadfully embarrassed arriving at the Waldorf looking the way I do , if I were not in a motor car , but riding in an automobile makes one feel so awfully swell that nothing matters . Is n't it lovely just to feel important for once ? You know it is , Bab , and you need n't say no !