nearly twelve
o'clock
But , for all that , I wish the duchess would come . '' `` Ah ! but fancy what it is to me , '' sighed out Mrs. Gibson ; `` so long as I have been without seeing the dear family -- and seeing so little of them the other day when I was at the Towers -LRB- for the duchess would have my opinion on Lady Alice 's trousseau , and kept asking me so many questions it took up all the time -RRB- -- and Lady Harriet 's last words were a happy anticipation of our meeting to-night . It 's nearly twelve o'clock . '' Every one of any pretensions to gentility was painfully affected by the absence of the family from the Towers ; the very fiddlers seemed unwilling to begin playing a dance that might be interrupted by the entrance of the great folks . Miss Phoebe Browning had apologized for them -- Miss Browning had blamed them with calm dignity ; it was only the butchers and bakers and candlestick-makers who rather enjoyed the absence of restraint , and were happy and hilarious . At last , there was a rumbling , and a rushing , and a whispering , and the music stopped ; so the dancers were obliged to do so too ; and in came Lord Cumnor in his state dress , with a fat , middle-aged woman on his arm ; she was dressed almost like a girl -- in a sprigged muslin , with natural flowers in her hair , but not a vestige of a jewel or a diamond .