half past ten
o'clock
No -- dinner was a very secondary and contemptible affair , compared with these . There were few forms or faces , truly , that were pleasanter to look upon in the group that stood , disrobed of their careful outer wrappings , in Mrs. Rushleigh 's dressing room ; their hurried chat and gladsome greetings distracted with the drawing on of gloves and the last adjustment of shining locks , while the bewildering music was floating up from below , mingled with the hum of voices from the rooms where , as children say , `` the party had begun '' already . And Mrs. Rushleigh , when Faith paid her timid respects in the drawing-room at last , made her welcome with a peculiar grace and _ empressement _ that had their own flattering weight and charm ; for the lady was a sort of St. Peter of fashion , holding its mystic keys , and admitting or rejecting whom she would ; and culled , with marvelous tact and taste , the flower of the up-growing world of Mishaumok to adorn `` her set . '' After which , Faith , claimed at once by an eager aspirant , and beset with many a following introduction and petition , was drawn to and kept in the joyous whirlpool of the dance , till she had breathed in enough of delight and excitement to carry her quite beyond the thought even of ices and oysters and jellies and fruits , and the score of unnamable luxuries whereto the young revelers were duly summoned at half past ten o'clock . Four days ' anticipation -- four hours ' realization -- culminated in the glorious after-supper midnight dance , when , marshaled hither and thither by the ingenious orders of the band , the jubilant company found itself , just on the impending stroke of twelve , drawn out around the room in one great circle ; and suddenly a hush of the music , at the very poising instant of time , left them motionless for a moment to burst out again in the age-honored and heartwarming strains of `` Auld Lang Syne . '' Hand joining hand they sang its chorus , and when the last note had lingeringly died away , one after another gently broke from their places , and the momentary figure melted out with the dying of the Year , never again to be just so combined . It was gone , as vanishes also every other phase and grouping in the kaleidoscope of Time .