ten o'clock
And she knew that for her it would be no convention ; but something either to be passionately accepted -- or impatiently endured . * * * * * Oxford went early to the Marmion ball . It was a very popular gathering . So that before ten o'clock the green quadrangle was crowded with guests waiting to see other guests come in ; while the lights from the Gothic hall , and the notes of the `` Blue Danube , '' then in its first prime , flung out their call to youth and sex . In they thronged -- young men and maidens -- a gay procession through the lawns and quadrangles , feeling the world born anew for them , and for them only , as their fathers and mothers had felt before them . Falloden and Meyrick , with half a dozen other chosen spirits , met Constance at the entrance and while Mrs. Hooper and Alice followed , pleased against their will by the reflected fame which had fallen upon them also , the young men formed a body-guard round Constance , and escorted her like a queen to the hall . Sorell , eagerly waiting , watched her entrance into the beautiful and spacious room , with its throng of dancers .