eight o'clock
There was nothing of this . Whether Don Luis did well or ill in keeping his appointment , and whether Pepita Ximenez , whom Antoñona had already told that Don Luis was coming of his own accord to see her , did well or ill in rejoicing over that somewhat mysterious and inopportune visit , let us not throw the blame on Fate , but on the personages themselves who figure in this history , and on the passions by which they are actuated . We confess to a great affection for Pepita ; but the truth is before everything , and must be declared , even should it be to the prejudice of our heroine . At eight o'clock , then , Antoñona had told her that Don Luis was coming , and Pepita , who had been talking of dying , whose eyes were red , whose eyelids were slightly inflamed with weeping , and whose hair was in some disorder , thought of nothing , thereafter , but of adorning and arranging herself for the purpose of receiving Don Luis . She bathed her face with warm water , so that the ravages her tears had made might be effaced to the exact point of leaving her beauty unimpaired , while still allowing it to be seen that she had wept . She arranged her hair , so as to display , rather than a studied care in its arrangement , a certain graceful and artistic carelessness , that fell short of disorder , however , which would have been indecorous ; she polished her nails , and , as it was not fit that she should receive Don Luis in a wrapper , she put on a simple house-dress . In fine , she managed instinctively that all the details of her toilet should concur in heightening her beauty and grace , but without allowing any trace to be perceived of the art , the labor , and the time employed in the details .