ten o’clock in the evening
They are a corps-de-ballet , for the use of private entertainments . They are fostered by society for the use of young debutantes , and hardier damsels , who have dared two or three years of the `` tight '' polka . They are cultivated for their heels , not their heads . Their life begins at ten o'clock in the evening , and lasts until four in the morning . They go home and sleep until nine ; then they reel , sleepy , to counting-houses and offices , and doze on desks until dinner-time . Or , unable to do that , they are actively at work all day , and their cheeks grow pale , and their lips thin , and their eyes bloodshot and hollow , and they drag themselves home at evening to catch a nap until the ball begins , or to dine and smoke at their club , and be very manly with punches and coarse stories ; and then to rush into hot and glittering rooms and seize very decolleté girls closely around the waist , and dash with them around an area of stretched linen , saying in the panting pauses , `` How very hot it is ! '' `` How very pretty Miss Podge looks ! ''