nine o'clock
In the parlour there were two card-tables , and every other convenience for any who preferred sedentary amusements . Altogether both Mrs. Morrison and the boarders , in solemn conclave assembled , agreed that the thing looked very promising , and that it would be a credit to the establishment . The guests were as varied as the wines , though hardly as select . Mrs. Scully 's exuberant hospitality included , as already intimated , not only her own friends , but those of her fellow-boarders , so that from an early hour the rooms began to fill , and by nine o'clock there was hardly space for the dancers . Hansoms and growlers rattled up in a continuous stream and discharged their burdens . There was a carpet down from the kerb to the head of the lodging-house steps , `` like r ` yalty , '' as the cook expressed it , and the greengrocer 's man in the hall looked so pompous and inflated in his gorgeous attire that his own cabbages would hardly have recognized him . His main defect as a footman was that he was somewhat hard of hearing , and had a marvellous faculty of misinterpreting whatever was said to him , which occasionally led to remarkable results .