nine o'clock
Bridgie wore her coming-out dress -- not so white as it had once been , but carefully chalked at the worst places , and swathed in lovely old lace round the shoulders . Esmeralda sported a pink moire dress which had once belonged to her mother , with a voluminous sash of white muslin , since nothing more elaborate was to hand , a wreath of roses out of last summer 's hat pinned over one shoulder , with all the crunched-up leaves ironed out smooth and flat , and white gloves cleaned with benzoline until you could hardly tell them from new . She was a vision of elegance , or looked so at least to the ordinary observer ; for when a girl is eighteen , and a beauty at that , she is bound to look charming , whatever be her clothes . At nine o'clock the guests were asked , and the hour had barely struck before they began to arrive . The sound of horses ' feet was heard from without , wheels drew up before the door , and in they came , one party after another , having driven across country in the cold and the dark for five , for six , and in one instance for ten long miles , but arriving fresh and radiant for all that , and brimming over with good humour . Mademoiselle thought that she had not seen such a merry assembly since leaving her own dear land , or heard such a babel of tongues . Everyone seemed to know everyone else , and to be on terms of closest intimacy and affection ; everyone talked at once and exclaimed with rapture and admiration at the preparations for the entertainment .