nine at night
Does any one suppose that fortunes alone are risked in the great game ? The winters are to fashionable women what a campaign once was to the soldiers of the Empire . What works of art and genius are expended on a gown or a garland in which to make a sensation ! A fragile , delicate creature will wear her stiff and brilliant harness of flowers and diamonds , silk and steel , from nine at night till two and often three o'clock in the morning . She eats little , to attract remark to her slender waist ; she satisfied her hunger with debilitating tea , sugared cakes , ices which heat her , or slices of heavy pastry . The stomach is made to yield to the orders of coquetry . The awakening comes too late .