About midnight
`` Where are the ladies ? '' `` They join us , Hotel Rajah . It will be , I trust , an amusing evening . '' * * * * * About midnight , dinner merged noisily into supper in the private dining room reserved by Mr. Puma for himself and guests at the new Hotel Rajah . There had been intermittent dancing during the dinner , but now the negro jazz specialists had been dismissed with emoluments , and a music-box substituted ; and supper promised to become even a more lively repetition of the earlier banquet . Puma was superb -- a large , heavy man , he danced as lightly as any ballerina ; and he and Tessa Barclay did a Paraguayan dance together , with a leisurely and agile perfection of execution that elicited uproarious demonstrations from the others . Not a whit winded , Puma resumed his seat at table , laughing as Mr. Pawling insisted on shaking hands with him .