eleven o'clock
The rector himself had a cold in his head , and would be obliged to omit all the _ n _ 's and _ m _ 's in the marriage service . In short , everybody felt that the Abbey wedding was destined to be more or less a failure . It seemed very hard that the chief partner in the firm of Dunbar , Dunbar , and Balderby could not , with all his wealth , buy a little glimmer of sunshine to light up his daughter 's wedding . It grew so dark and foggy towards eleven o'clock , that a dozen or so of wax-candles were hastily stuck about the neighbourhood of the altar , in order that the bride and bridegroom might be able , each of them , to see the person that he or she was taking for better or worse . Yes , the dismal weather made everything dismal in unison with itself . A wet wedding is like a wet pic-nic . The most heroic nature gives way before its utter desolation ; the wit of the party forgets his best anecdote ; the funny man breaks down in the climactic verse of his great buffo song ; there is no brightness in the eyes of the beauty ; there is neither sparkle nor flavour in the champagne , though the grapes thereof have been grown in the vineyards of Widow Cliquot herself .