noon
You may smile , but these were pleasant times , and I scarcely care to go back there since they were changed . But to return . The __ th had just received an invitation to a ball , to be given by the high sheriff , and to which they most considerately said we should also be invited . This negociation was so well managed that before noon we all received our cards from a green liveried youth , mounted on a very emaciated pony -- the whole turn-out not auguring flatteringly of the high sheriff 's taste in equipage . We dined with the __ th , and , as customary before going to an evening party , took the `` other bottle '' of claret that lies beyond the frontier of prudence . In fact , from the lieutenant-colonel down to the newly-joined ensign , there was not a face in the party that did not betray `` signs of the times '' that boded most favourably for the mirth of the sheriff 's ball . We were so perfectly up to the mark , that our major , a Connemara man , said , as we left the mess-room , `` a liqueure glass would spoil us . ''