nine o'clock
Of course Cousin Dempster and his wife were invited , being _ my _ cousins , and so saturated with the family genius , that people are constantly expecting it to break out , which it has n't yet , except in a general way . But Cousin D. made lots of money in the war , and money is thought almost as much of as talent by some people . Still , between ourselves , I do n't think they would have been invited if they had n't come from Sprucehill ; which is taking a literary position next to the Hub since our Society has begun to publish my humble reports . Well , just at nine o'clock , if you had been in front of my boarding-house you might have seen a splendid carriage standing at the door , and that coachman , in his fur collar and cuffs , sitting high up on the driver 's seat , and scrouching his head down while a storm of sleet and snow beat over him . If you had looked toward the house , three or four eager and curious faces might have been seen flat against every front window as a certain dignified and queenly person came slowly down the steps , with a white opera-cloak folded over her magnificent person , and a pink silk long train bunched up under it , lining-side out . The moment that carriage-door shut with an aristocratic bang you might have seen those faces turn from the window and look at each other -- then noses turned up at sympathizing noses , giving out audible sniffs of that envy which the wonderful endowments of some persons are apt to engender in the inferior female mind . But if you had looked into that carriage you would have seen it packed comfortably as a robin 's nest in blossom time .