nine
at night
She could play them , wield them , just as she wished . Well-frocked , looking her best , a woman is a dangerous animal ; but throw her in contact with another of her sex who is but poorly clad , socially beneath her , and in training her inferior , and you may behold all the grace , all the symmetry of the cobra as it unwinds its beautiful , sinuous body before the eyes of its panic-stricken prey . The fact that her brother had admitted Sally to the room , made Mrs. Durlacher realize that he held her in special regard . Notwithstanding that Miss Bishop called upon him at his own rooms at half-past nine at night , when all young ladies who valued their reputations would be either playing incompetent bridge in the suburban home , or going respectably with relations to a harmless piece at the theatre , she took the other fact well into consideration -- gave it full weight -- and all in that brief moment of a pause , realized that as yet there was no intimacy between these two . She did not look upon women as a class -- the class he mixed with -- as dangerous to her brother 's ultimate salvation ; but coming across the individual in Sally , quiet , unobtrusive -- the type that valued its own possessions , and would certainly expect substantial settlement , if not marriage itself -- she felt called into action and answered the call , as only such women with her training know how . When she had shaken hands , she leant back again with one graceful elbow , bared , upon the mantelpiece -- the pose of absolute ease . Sally , who , except for the students ' balls , to which Janet had sometimes taken her , had not been in the presence of people in evening dress since she left home , stood , hiding her nervousness , but not hiding the fact that it was concealed .