eleven
o’clock
`` I have studied his taste to a nicety , and I tell you again and again you are the only woman of the sort that I can lay my hands on . '' In answer to this , Madame Zéphyrine sighed , and appeared by a gesture to resign herself , like one yielding to unqualified authority . That afternoon the observatory was finally blinded , a wardrobe having been drawn in front of it upon the other side ; and while Silas was still lamenting over this misfortune , which he attributed to the Britisher 's malign suggestion , the concierge brought him up a letter in a female handwriting . It was conceived in French of no very rigorous orthography , bore no signature , and in the most encouraging terms invited the young American to be present in a certain part of the Bullier Ball at eleven o'clock that night . Curiosity and timidity fought a long battle in his heart ; sometimes he was all virtue , sometimes all fire and daring ; and the result of it was that , long before ten , Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore presented himself in unimpeachable attire at the door of the Bullier Ball Rooms , and paid his entry money with a sense of reckless devilry that was not without its charm . It was Carnival time , and the Ball was very full and noisy . The lights and the crowd at first rather abashed our young adventurer , and then , mounting to his brain with a sort of intoxication , put him in possession of more than his own share of manhood .