nearly ten o'clock
She wore black velvet and a few diamonds , and looked impressively null . Tiny and Ila arrived almost immediately . They looked , the one an angel with a sense of humour , the other Circean with an eye to the conventions , both as smart as Paris could make them . It was nearly ten o'clock , and there was a rush just after . Magdaléna waited a half-hour for Helena , then opened the ball in a brief waltz with Alan Rush instead of the quadrille in which the four débutantes were to dance . She sent a message to Helena , and Mrs. Cartright scribbled back that the poor dear child had altered the trimming on her bodice at the last moment , and would not be ready for an hour yet . Caro took her place in the quadrille , as she also wore white .