eleven o'clock in the morning
She did not resemble either Monsieur or Madame Denis , a singularity which had often exercised the tongues of the Rue St. Martin before she went to inhabit the house which her husband had bought in the Rue du Temps Perdu . In spite of this absence of all likeness to her parents , Mademoiselle Athenais was the declared favorite of her mother , which gave her the assurance that poor Emilie wanted . Athenais , however , it must be said , always profited by this favor to excuse the pretended faults of her sister . Although it was scarcely eleven o'clock in the morning , the two sisters were dressed as if for a ball , and carried all the trinkets they possessed on their necks , arms , and ears . This apparition , so conformable to the idea which D'Harmental had formed beforehand of the daughters of his landlady , gave him a new subject for reflection . Since the Demoiselles Denis were so exactly what they ought to be , that is to say , in such perfect harmony with their position and education , why was Bathilde , who seemed their equal in rank , as visibly distinguished as they were vulgar ? Whence came this immense difference between girls of the same class and age ?