Sentence:  Somewhat to his surprise he found that one girl , whom he would never have considered for the job since she had appeared somewhat mousy and also had been in the office a relatively short <WSD>time</WSD> , did the most outstanding job of playing the role of receptionist , showing wit , sparkle , and aplomb . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a period of time considered as a resource under your control and sufficient to accomplish something