nine in the
evening
`` But how rude , '' said Polly , `` not to return the Governor 's civility and Mrs. Gorges 's , when they will be sure to ask why you are away ! '' Still I demurred , and at last she , with the wit of Eve and of Semiramis conjoined , let me off by saying that , if I would go in with her , and sustain the initial conversations with the Governor and the ladies staying there , she would risk Dennis for the rest of the evening . And that was just what we did . She took Dennis in training all that afternoon , instructed him in fashionable conversation , cautioned him against the temptations of the supper-table , -- and at nine in the evening he drove us all down in the carryall . I made the grand star - _ entrée _ with Polly and the pretty Walton girls , who were staying with us . We had put Dennis into a great rough top-coat , without his glasses : and the girls never dreamed , in the darkness , of looking at him . He sat in the carriage , at the door , while we entered .