nine o'clock
`` Tai n't a cab , '' Walter informed her crossly . `` It 's a tin Lizzie , but you do n't haf ' to tell her what it is till I get her into it , do you ? '' Mrs. Adams agreed that she did n't . Alice was busy with herself for two hours after dinner ; but a little before nine o'clock she stood in front of her long mirror , completed , bright-eyed and solemn . Her hair , exquisitely arranged , gave all she asked of it ; what artificialities in colour she had used upon her face were only bits of emphasis that made her prettiness the more distinct ; and the dress , not rumpled by her mother 's careful hours of work , was a white cloud of loveliness . Finally there were two triumphant bouquets of violets , each with the stems wrapped in tin-foil shrouded by a bow of purple chiffon ; and one bouquet she wore at her waist and the other she carried in her hand . Miss Perry , called in by a rapturous mother for the free treat of a look at this radiance , insisted that Alice was a vision .