midnight
Beyond were many other tables , thronged even more densely ; and ringed thus with closely packed figures , they were like islands on a shining golden sea , an archipelago of little islands , all of exactly the same size , and placed at equal distances . Mary , hardly knowing what to expect from Peter 's rather vague and disjointed descriptions , had dimly fancied clamour and confusion bursting upon eyes and ears on the instant of entering the gambling-rooms . But the silence of the place was as haunting and mystery-suggesting as the indefinable odour , and more thrilling to the imagination than the loudest noise . She who had been Sister Rose was horrified to find herself thinking of a cathedral lighted for a midnight mass . Almost , she expected organ music to peal out . Slowly she moved down the room , past the first tables , and , as she walked , the muffled , characteristic sounds she began to hear seemed but to punctuate and emphasize the silence , like echoes in a cave : a faint rattle of rakes , like the rustle of leaves , and a delicate chink-chink of gold , like the chirping of young birds just awakened by dawn . A voice at each table as she drew near or passed made some announcement .