midnight
Here , too , it was very exciting , too much claiming one 's attention for private worries to intrude . The opera crowd came thronging in , women in beautiful clothes , men one 's father had known , youths who had come to one 's house . Some of the ladies who had been Minnie Alston 's friends stopped to have a word with Lorry and then swept on making murmurous comment to their escorts -- the Alston girls were coming out of their shells , beginning at last to take their places ; it was a pity they went about with fossils of the Stone Age like Mrs. Kirkham , but they had a queer , old-fashioned streak in them -- ah , there 's a vacant table ! It was past midnight when Mrs. Kirkham dropped Lorry at her door and rolled off with the rest of her cargo . The joy of the evening was still with the girl as she entered the hall . She stood there for a moment , pulling off her gloves and looking about with the prudent eye of a proprietor . In its roving her glance fell on a letter in the card tray .