eleven o'clock in the morning
However this might be , it is certain that a good many people liked her , chiefly perhaps because she was good-natured , and a little on account of that admirable cook . To Lesbia , who had been weary to loathing of her old life amidst the hills and waterfalls of Westmoreland , this new life was one perpetual round of pleasure . She flung herself with all her heart and mind into the amusement of the moment ; she knew neither weariness nor satiety . To ride in the park in the morning , to go to a luncheon party , a garden party , to drive in the park for half an hour after the garden party , to rush home and dress for the fourth or fifth time , and then off to a dinner , and from dinner to drum , and from drum to big ball , at which rumour said the Prince and Princess were to be present ; and so , from eleven o'clock in the morning till four or five o'clock next morning , the giddy whirl went on ; and every hour was so occupied by pleasure engagements that it was difficult to squeeze in an occasional morning for shopping -- necessary to go to the shops sometimes , or one would not know how many things one really wants -- or for an indispensable interview with the dressmaker . Those mornings at the shops were hardly the least agreeable of Lesbia 's hours . To a girl brought up in one perpetual _ tête-à-tête _ with green hill-sides and silvery watercourses , the West End shops were as gardens of Eden , as Aladdin Caves , as anything , everything that is rapturous and intoxicating . Lesbia , the clear-headed , the cold-hearted , fairly lost her senses when she went into one of those exquisite shops , where a confusion of brocades and satins lay about in dazzling masses of richest colour , with here and there a bunch of lilies , a cluster of roses , a tortoise-shell fan , an ostrich feather , or a flounce of peerless Point d'Alençon flung carelessly athwart the sheen of a wine-dark velvet or golden-hued satin .