ten o'clock
To take `` Lorelei '' to all the places I meant to see to-day would have occupied half a week , though none were at a great distance from Amsterdam but the waterways there do not in all places connect conveniently for a boat of `` Lorelei 's '' size , though we might have left `` Waterspin '' behind . So I proposed the car , and everybody caught at the idea . There was not one of the party who by this time had not studied guide-books enough to know something of Muiden , Laren , Baarn , Hilversum , and Amersfoort ; but they might have searched Baedeker and all his rivals from end to end without finding even the name of Spaakenberg ; and little quaint , hidden Spaakenberg was to be the _ clou _ of our expedition . It was ten o'clock when I got them all -- including Tibe -- into the car ; indeed , it always seems to be exactly ten o'clock when we start on any excursion , even when it has been decided over night that we should set off promptly at nine . But Starr , who pretends to knowledge of women 's ways , says we are lucky to get away anywhere before eleven , seeing that at the last moment one of the ladies remembers that she must write and post an important letter , which will take only five minutes ; or she finds she has forgotten her purse in a drawer at the hotel , and must go back ; or she thinks she will be too cool or too hot , and must make some change in her costume ; or if nothing of this sort happens , Tibe is lost sight of for a second , and disappears in pursuit of new friendships , canine or human . He has then not only to be retrieved , which is usually an affair of twenty minutes , but has to be caressed for an extra five by his mistress , who never fails to abandon hope of seeing him again the moment he is out of sight . To test the quality of Miss Van Buren 's resolutions , I asked her to take the seat beside the driver , expecting some excuse ; but she came like a lamb ; and the taste of conquest was sweet in my mouth .