ten
o'clock
Wirsch grunted approval . `` Vare goot , Sare Stephen ; dee sooner a ting ees congluded , de bedder . ` Arf bast dwelve ! '' There was but a short stay made in the drawing-room , and before ten o'clock the guests streamed into the magnificent ball-room . There were a number of the neighbouring gentry who were making their acquaintance with the Villa for the first time , and they regarded the splendour around them with an amazement which was not without reason ; for to-night the artistically designed and shaded electric lamps , the beautiful rooms with their chaste yet effective decorations , on which money had been lavished like water , were seen to their greatest advantage ; and the Vaynes , the Bannerdales , and the local gentry generally exchanged glances and murmured exclamations of surprise and admiration , and wondered whether there could be any end to the wealth of a man who could raise such a palace in so short a time . From the gallery of white-and-gold the famous band , every man of which was a musician , presently began to send forth the sweet strains of a Waldteufel waltz , and Stafford found Lady Clansford for the first dance . Though he had paid little attention to Howard 's remarks about Maude Falconer , he remembered them , and he did not ask her for a dance until the ball had been running about an hour ; then he went up to where she was standing talking to Lord Bunnerdale , her last partner .