ten o’clock
` Say what you will , ' I thought , ` I 've seen , seen with my own eyes , my dead tutor ! ' * * * * * The next day the ball in the Hall of Nobility took place . Sophia 's father called on me and reminded me of the engagement I had made with his daughter . At ten o'clock I was standing by her side in the middle of a ballroom lighted up by a number of copper lamps , and was preparing to execute the not very complicated steps of the French quadrille to the resounding blare of the military band . Crowds of people were there ; the ladies were especially numerous and very pretty ; but the first place among them would certainly have been given to my partner , if it had not been for the rather strange , even rather wild look in her eyes . I noticed that she hardly ever blinked ; the unmistakable expression of sincerity in her eyes did not make up for what was extraordinary in them . But she had a charming figure , and moved gracefully , though with constraint .