nine
o’clock
The nicest term used by progressive people to describe these ladies is `` parasites , '' and they often , as we had just been learning , call them worse names than that . Lady Kingscourt and her party represented the highest layer of fashionable life . I had , besides her , a large number of women of slightly dimmer glory who were yet quite as finely dressed as Lady Kingscourt , and were , I am sure , equally eager for the good of the masses . My hall , not a very large one , was well filled before nine o'clock . I had every reason to congratulate myself on the success of my party , so far . It remained to be seen whether Gorman would make a good speech and whether Tim 's ghosts would exhibit themselves satisfactorily . Between the speech and the ghosts my guests would have an opportunity of drinking tea and champagne cup , handed round by twelve nice looking girls wearing black and white dresses , hired out to me -LRB- both the girls and the dresses -RRB- for the evening by the firm which had undertaken to manage the refreshments .