midnight
Miss Cooper , will you kindly fetch over that case of silks that we had over yesterday from Paris ? ' ` The young ladies must be , of course , in white ; for Miss Olive I should like , I think , snowdrops ; for you , Mrs. Barton , I am uncertain which of two designs I shall recommend . Now , this is a perfectly regal material . ' With words of compliment and solicitation , the black-dressed assistant displayed the armouries of Venus -- armouries filled with the deep blue of midnight , with the faint tints of dawn , with strange flowers and birds , with moths , and moons , and stars . Lengths of white silk clear as the notes of violins playing in a minor key ; white poplin falling into folds statuesque as the bass of a fugue by Bach ; yards of ruby velvet , rich as an air from Verdi played on the piano ; tender green velvet , pastoral as hautboys heard beneath trees in a fair Arcadian vale ; blue turquoise faille fanciful as the tinkling of a guitar twanged by a Watteau shepherd ; gold brocade , sumptuous as organ tones swelling through the jewelled twilight of a nave ; scarves and trains of midnight-blue profound as the harmonic snoring of a bassoon ; golden daffodils violent as the sound of a cornet ; bouquets of pink roses and daisies , charmful and pure as the notes of a flute ; white faille , soft draperies of tulle , garlands of white lilac , sprays of white heather , delicate and resonant as the treble voices of children singing carols in dewy English woods ; berthas , flounces , plumes , stomachers , lappets , veils , frivolous as the strains of a German waltz played on Liddell 's band . An hour passed , but the difficulty of deciding if Olive 's dress should be composed of silk or Irish poplin was very great , for , determined that all should be humiliated , Mrs. Barton laid her plans amid designs for night and morning ; birds fluttering through leafy trees , birds drowsing on bending boughs , and butterflies folding their wings . At a critical moment , however , an assistant announced that Mrs. Scully was waiting .