midnight
`` Well , and what else ? '' asked her husband . `` Oh , _ I _ do n't know that it amounts to anything , '' said Mrs. Elmore ; but she did not delay further . It appeared from what she went on to say that in the German , which began not long after midnight , there was a figure fancifully called the symphony , in which musical toys were distributed among the dancers in pairs ; the possessor of a small pandean pipe , or tin horn , went about sounding it , till he found some lady similarly equipped , when he demanded her in the dance . In this way a tall mask , to whom a penny trumpet had fallen , was stalking to and fro among the waltzers , blowing the silly plaything with a disgusted air , when Lily , all unconscious of him , where she sat with her hand in that of her faithful princess , breathed a responsive note . The mask was instantly at her side , and she was whirling away in the waltz . She tried to make him out , but she had already danced with so many people that she was unable to decide whether she had seen this mask before .