about five o'clock in the afternoon
And immediately he went by her and into his room . On the memorable night of her first grand opera Norma and Chris dined at Mrs. von Behrens 's . It was Alice who urged the arrangement , urged it quite innocently , as she frequently did the accidental pairing of Norma and Chris , because her mother was going for a week to Boston , the following day , and they wanted an evening of comfortable talk together . Norma , with Freda and Miss Slater as excited accomplices , laid out the new corn-coloured gown at about five o'clock in the afternoon , laid beside it the stockings and slippers that exactly matched it in colour , and hung over the foot of her bed the embroidered little stays that were so ridiculously small and so unnecessarily beautiful . On a separate chair was spread the big furred wrap of gold and brown brocade , the high carriage shoes , and the long white gloves to which the tissue paper still was clinging . The orchids that Annie had given Norma that morning were standing in a slender vase on the bureau , and as a final touch the girl , regarding these preparations with a sort of enchanted delight , unfurled to its full glory the great black ostrich-feather fan . Norma amused Alice and Mrs. Melrose by refusing tea , and disappeared long before there was need , to begin the great ceremony of robing .