about eleven o’clock
Fully to appreciate the interest of this conversation , it is necessary to relate an incident which would presently serve as an invisible bond , drawing together the actors in this little drama , who were at present scattered through the rooms . At about eleven o'clock , just as the dancers were returning to their seats , the company had observed the entrance of the handsomest woman in Paris , the queen of fashion , the only person wanting to the brilliant assembly . She made it a rule never to appear till the moment when a party had reached that pitch of excited movement which does not allow the women to preserve much longer the freshness of their faces or of their dress . This brief hour is , as it were , the springtime of a ball . An hour after , when pleasure falls flat and fatigue is encroaching , everything is spoilt .