nearly midnight before
Never had his quick brain been so alert as it was during the rest of the evening . And those who had come to the Hotel Gemosac to confirm their adoption of a figure-head went away with the startling knowledge in their hearts that they had never in the course of an artificial life met a man less suited to play that undignified part . And all the while , in the back of his mind , there lingered with a deadly patience the desire for the moment which must inevitably come when he should at last find himself alone , face to face , with Dormer Colville . It was nearly midnight before this moment came . At last the latest guest had taken his leave , quitting the house by the garden door and making his way across that forlorn and weedy desert by the dim light reflected from the clouds above . At last the Marquis de Gemosac had bidden them good night , and they were left alone in the vast bedroom which a dozen candles , in candelabras of silver blackened by damp and neglect , only served to render more gloomy and mysterious . In the confusion consequent on the departure of so many guests the locket had been lost sight of , and Monsieur de Gemosac forgot to make inquiry for it .