six o'clock
... He picked up the change , and without a glance at them dropped the coins into his pocket . It was a glorious thing to be a man ! But was it not even more glorious to be a girl and the object of his princely care ? ... They passed a heavy draped curtain , on which was a large card , `` Tea-Room , '' and there seemed to be celestial social possibilities behind that curtain , though indeed it bore another and smaller card : `` Closed after six o'clock '' -- the result of excessive caution on the part of a kill-joy Town Council . A boy in the likeness of a midshipman took halves of the curving tickets and dropped them into a tin box , and then next Rachel was in a sudden black darkness , studded here and there with minute glowing rubies that revealed the legend : `` Exit . Exit . Exit . ''