eleven o'clock
Then came the lighting up of the rooms , and the blaze of pure white light from the uncurtained ballroom windows spread into the street , and the musicians passed in with their instruments . Then , after a short pause , the carriages of a few intimate friends , who came early at the hostess 's express desire , began to drive up , and the Hansom cabs of the contemporaries of the eldest son , from which issued guardsmen and Foreign-office men , and other dancing-youth of the most approved description . Then the crowd collected again round the door -- a sadder crowd now to the eye of anyone who has time to look at it ; with sallow , haggard looking men here and there on the skirts of it , and tawdry women joking and pushing to the front , through the powdered footmen , and linkmen in red waistcoats , already clamorous and redolent of gin and beer , and scarcely kept back by the half-dozen constables of the A division , told off for the special duty of attending and keeping order on so important an occasion . Then comes a rush of carriages , and by eleven o'clock the line stretches away half round Grosvenor Square , and moves at a foot 's - pace towards the lights , and the music , and the shouting street . In the middle of the line is the comfortable chariot of our friend Mr. Porter -- the corners occupied by himself and his wife , while Miss Mary sits well forward between them , her white muslin dress looped up with sprigs of heather spread delicately on either side over their knees , and herself in a pleasant tremor of impatience and excitement . `` How very slow Robert is to-day , mamma ! We shall never get to the house . ''