He forgot to eat, and sought on for the books on etiquette; for, in addition to career, his mind was vexed by a simple and very concrete problem: _When you meet a young lady and she asks you to call, how soon can you call_?
was the way he worded it to himself.

But when he found the right shelf, he sought vainly for the answer.

He was appalled at the vast edifice of etiquette, and lost himself in the mazes of visiting-card conduct between persons in polite society.

He abandoned his search.

He had not found what he wanted, though he had found that it would take all of a man's time to be polite, and that he would have to live a preliminary life in which to learn how to be polite.
"Did you find what you wanted ?" the man at the desk asked him as he was leaving.
"Yes, sir," he answered.