Convention demanded, as it still does, that when a member of a reigning house is expected, all the other guests should be present before his or her entrance. This had been punctiliously observed at first, but the aristocracy of Vienna and the visiting diplomats and courtiers had grown so blasé as a result of rubbing shoulders with half a dozen reigning princes on a daily basis that by now they had little inclination to hurry, and preferred to finish their dinners and get dressed in their own time.
