twelve o'clock before
Mr. and Mrs. George Harley had made an appointment to meet at half-past eleven sharp on the doorstep of the little house in Sixty-seventh Street . Business had interrupted their honeymoon and brought them unexpectedly to New York . Harley had come by subway from Wall Street to the Grand Central and taken a taxicab . It was twelve o'clock before he arrived . Nevertheless he wore a smile of placid ease of mind . His little wife had only to walk from the Plaza , it was true , but he knew , although a newly married man , that to be half an hour late was to be ten minutes early . At exactly five minutes past twelve he saw her turn off the Avenue , and as he strolled along to meet her , charmed and delighted by her daintiness , proud and happy at his possession of her , he did a thing that all wise and tactful husbands do -- he forced back an irresistible desire to be humorous at her expense and so won an entry of approval from the Recording Angel .