nine o'clock
No expence and no pains had been spared to render this long projected entertainment splendid and elegant ; it was to begin with a concert , which was to be followed by a ball , and succeeded by a supper . Cecilia , though unusually anxious about her own affairs , was not so engrossed by them as to behold with indifference a scene of such unjustifiable extravagance ; it contributed to render her thoughtful and uneasy , and to deprive her of all mental power of participating in the gaiety of the assembly . Mr Arnott was yet more deeply affected by the mad folly of the scheme , and received from the whole evening no other satisfaction than that which a look of sympathetic concern from Cecilia occasionally afforded him . Till nine o'clock no company appeared , except Sir Robert Floyer , who stayed from dinner time , and Mr Morrice , who having received an invitation for the evening , was so much delighted with the permission to again enter the house , that he made use of it between six and seven o'clock , and before the family had left the dining parlour . He apologized with the utmost humility to Cecilia for the unfortunate accident at the Pantheon ; but as to her it had been productive of nothing but pleasure , by exciting in young Delvile the most flattering alarm for her safety , she found no great difficulty in according him her pardon . Among those who came in the first crowd was Mr Monckton , who , had he been equally unconscious of sinister views , would in following his own inclination , have been as early in his attendance as Mr Morrice ; but who , to obviate all suspicious remarks , conformed to the fashionable tardiness of the times . Cecilia 's chief apprehension for the evening was that Sir Robert Floyer would ask her to dance with him , which she could not refuse without sitting still during the ball , nor accept , after the reports she knew to be spread , without seeming to give a public sanction to them .