But in ten minutes they had exhausted it.

An engagement of a girl known to both of them had just been announced.

Condy brought that up, and kept conversation going for another twenty minutes, and then filled in what threatened to be a gap by telling her stories of the society reporters, and how they got inside news by listening to telephone party wires for days at a time.

Travis' condemnation of this occupied another five or ten minutes; and so what with this and with that they reached nine o'clock.
Then decidedly the evening began to drag.

It was too early to go.
Condy could find no good excuse for taking himself away, and, though Travis was good-natured enough, and met him more than half-way, their talk lapsed, and lapsed, and lapsed.