8 A.M.
The gentlemen handed the ladies to a long gallery , the last of the suite of the rooms on the ground-floor . Here a buffet was arranged . The musicians also were refreshed with good wine and liquors , before the arduous labors of the cotillon commenced . No brilliant cotillon ends before 8 A.M. ; then there is breakfast and driving home by daylight at ten o'clock . Nobili , his cheeks still tingling , felt that the moment had come when he must seek his partner . It would be difficult to define the contending feelings that made him reluctant to do so . Nera Boccarini had taken no pains to conceal how much she liked him .