midnight
`` My dear Lady Babbleton , '' cried Lady Harriett , taking both the hands of the dowager , `` I am so glad to see you , and how well you are looking ; and your charming daughters , how are they ? -- sweet girls ! -- and how long have you been here ? '' `` We have only just come , '' replied the cidevant milliner , half rising and rustling her plumes in stately agitation , like a nervous parrot ; `` we must conform to modern ours , Lady Arriett , though for my part , I like the old-fashioned plan of dining early , and finishing one 's gaieties before midnight ; but I set the fashion of good ours as well as I can . I think it 's a duty we owe to society , Lady Arriett , to encourage morality by our own example . What else do we have rank for ? '' And , so saying , the counter countess drew herself up with a most edifying air of moral dignity .