eight o'clock
It was a relief to the couple most concerned when Miss Cordova entered , wearing an elaborately pleated and not too clean violet dressing gown , over which she had put on a dark blue blanket coat and her host 's fur cap to keep her warm . Thus from the ill-assorted trio was formed a comfortable _ partie carrée _ , for Poussette seemed careless as to which lady he attended and he still bore the cornelian ring upon his finger . Ringfield , forgetting his scruples , had promised to take the chair and introduce the artists ; Antoine was door-keeper , and Poussette , clad in tweeds , a white waistcoat and tie of bright blue , would receive the guests in his own effusive way , seating the ladies carefully on the fresh yellow planks with great gallantry and address . At eight o'clock the room began to fill , the village turning out well , and a few coming all the way from Hawthorne , among these Enderby , the Cockney butcher , and his wife and daughter , and as soon as Ringfield had made a few appropriate remarks , couched this time in safe and secular terms , the first number was given , consisting of an orchestral selection by four players belonging to St. Ignace and to the choir of Father Rielle 's big church , St. Jean-Baptiste-on-the-Hill . A cornet , two fiddles and a flute rendered the music with good time and fair intonation , and as it was lighthearted , even gay in character , melodious and tripping , Ringfield thought it must be of operatic origin , but found later on to his intense surprise that it was a transcription of Mozart 's Twelfth Mass , interpreted by Alexis Gagnon , the undertaker , as first violin , his eldest son , second violin , François Xavier Tremblay , one of the beneficiaries , on the cornet , and Adolphe Trudel , a little hunchback , on the flute . This selection , performed with more gusto and enthusiasm than customary , gave so much satisfaction that it had to be repeated after noisy and prolonged applause , and then Miss Cordova appeared at the side of the platform , dressed in Spanish costume and carrying castanets . The opera of `` Carmen , '' at that time quite new , had been performed in some small towns of the United States by a `` scratch '' company , including Pauline 's acquaintance and -- to show that Art is a reality , and some people born into it , at their best in it and unfit for anything else -- the lady was greatly changed , not only in Ringfield 's eyes , but in her own .