nine to eleven o'clock
Alone with her thoughts , she elaborated a countermine , whose energy was specially directed against the Beverwyck Club , though she had no objection to hoisting the governor 's wife in the explosion , albeit she refused to consider her the real antagonist . The true offender was the exclusive organization which had prostituted itself to such ignoble influence . Within an hour of her grandson 's departure Mrs. Teunis Van Dam despatched an invitation of her own . The Beverwyck Club reception was scheduled to run its formal course from nine to eleven o'clock ; Mrs. Van Dam asked the governor and his lady to dine with her on the same evening at the hour of eight . All hinged now on the personal equation of Cora Shelby , whose vagaries the old lady owned herself quite unable to forecast . Nor in this respect was Cora herself a much wiser prophet . Her first instinct , mixed with wonder , was to decline , and she held to this opinion the better part of an hour .