seven o’clock
The night of my opening found me calmly awaiting the triumph that was due me . As some one has said of Napoleon , I had won my battle in my tent before the firing of a single shot . I mean to say , I had looked so conscientiously after details , even to assuring myself that Cousin Egbert and the Honourable George would appear in evening dress , my last act having been to coerce each of them into purchasing varnished boots , the former submitting meekly enough , though the Honourable George insisted it was a silly fuss . At seven o'clock , having devoted a final inspection to the kitchen where the female raccoon was well on with the dinner , and having noted that the members of my staff were in their places , I gave a last pleased survey of my dining-room , with its smartly equipped tables , flower-bedecked , gleaming in the softened light from my shaded candlesticks . Truly it was a scene of refined elegance such as Red Gap had never before witnessed within its own confines , and I had seen to it that the dinner as well would mark an epoch in the lives of these simple but worthy people . Not a heavy nor a cloying repast would they find . Indeed , the bare simplicity of my menu , had it been previously disclosed , would doubtless have disappointed more than one of my dinner-giving patronesses ; but each item had been perfected to an extent never achieved by them .