I bowed to, and disclaimed, the compliment. " I nearly met you, once, in Philadelphia, some Browning affair or other — you were to lecture, you know. My train was four hours late" .
That is also true of people who, like your columnist, a guest Bartleby, more often suffer from the inverse affliction-having trouble putting things off even if they probably ought to be.
" We're having dinner late tonight, we're having late." Late. Or I might even say: " Tonight. We're having dinner late tonight" , as in: " Don't forget it's today. Don't go anywhere, aunty, it's tonight." Okay?
It has, however been late on occasion. In 1962 snow accumulation caused the clock to ring in the new year ten minutes late and in 1976 the clock stopped when a piece of its machinery broke.