ten o'clock precisely
Slowly , and with much unnecessary delay , the dinner drags to an end , only to be followed by a still slower hour in the drawing-room . Mr. Amherst challenges Philip to a game of chess , that most wearisome of games to the on-looker , and so arranges himself that his antagonist can not , without risking his neck , bestow so much as a glance in Miss Massereene 's direction . Marcia gets successfully through two elaborate fantasies upon the piano , that require rather more than the correct brilliancy of her touch to make up for the incoherency of their composition ; while Molly sits apart , dear soul , and wishes with much devoutness that the inventor of chess had been strangled at his birth . At ten o'clock precisely Mr. Amherst rises , having lost his game , and a good deal of his temper , and expresses his intention of retiring without delay to his virtuous slumbers . Marcia asks Molly whether she too would not wish to go to her room after the day 's fatigue ; at which proposition Molly grasps with eagerness . Philip lights her candle , -- they are in the hall together , -- and then holds out his hand . `` Do you know we have not yet gone through the ceremony of shaking hands ? ''