three in the morning
Gossip was no joy to her , scandal she would not tolerate , and the women commenced the task of ostracism by means of half-uttered phrases and little invidious smiles ; and most men voted her _ odd _ owing to a certain indescribable barrier which they invariably encountered when they approached her over impulsively , and which really did _ not _ tally with her enticing , bizarre beauty . Yes ! they voted her odd , certainly , but in the secret places of their hearts and bungalows some of them would ponder . Had not the major sahib 's bearer curled himself up on the mat beneath the bed and gone to sleep , while the major sahib , after the ball , had sat in his shirt-sleeves upon that bed until three in the morning ; and over and over again mentally slid up and down the room with supple , slender Leonie in his arms , where , in the earlier hours of the night , she had rested seemingly content for one half-second before he had let her go under the palms . And , `` Damn it all , she 's not a flirt , '' did not a certain youthful sahib who worshipped openly at her shrine exclaim , as he thought , in the unpleasantly heated watches of the night , of that moment when she had smiled down sweetly into his adoring eyes , as his cheek brushed her hand while she was arranging her habit , and he her stirrup leather . How _ were _ they to know that , distracted by an ever-increasing fear , and lost in an overwhelming love , Leonie had no more remembrance than the man in the moon of the fact that she had danced with the one , and smiled upon the other . It was the final flare of the season in the shape of a ball at Government House ; one of those mixed massed gatherings to which you are invited either on account of your rank , or your unblemished reputation , or the fact that you 've had the forethought to inscribe your name in the visiting-book .