ten o'clock in the evening
Pilar , who fancied him reconciled to the situation , grew easier in her mind , and by degrees lost much of her distrust . About a month later , toward the middle of March , she had so far regained her equanimity as to allow herself , after a steady resistance , to be persuaded by a friend to attend her house-warming ball -- `` pendre la cremaillere , '' as they call it in Paris . The friend was quite as superstitious as Pilar herself , and had vowed a hundred times over that she would have no luck in her new house if Pilar were absent from the opening ball . It was not till ten o'clock in the evening that she finally made up her mind . She waited till Wilhelm had gone to bed , and then sent for Isabel , and shut herself up with her in the boudoir . After Isabel had turned up the knave of hearts eight times running , and she had seen that Wilhelm was in bed , reading the newspaper , she gave Anne and Don Pablo a few orders , dressed hurriedly , and went off , after many kisses and embraces , and with the promise of not staying long . Wilhelm read his paper to the end , blew out the light , and turned himself to the wall .