midnight
The widow 's net having hauled up Tom , hopes for untroubled waters again could be indulged . In the midst of all the hilarity the delegations and the bands began to arrive outside . The cheering rose to a roar and from the brilliantly lighted ballroom David Kildare stepped out on the balcony and stood forty-five minutes laughing and bowing , not managing to get in more than a few words of what might have been a great speech if his constituency had not been entirely too excited to listen to it . It was almost midnight when they all marched away to _ Dixie _ played to rag-time measure and sung by five hundred strong . With a sigh of relief David held out his arms to Phoebe and started to swing her into the whirl of the dancers . As his arms fell about her Phoebe pressed close to him with a quick breath and his eyes followed hers across the room . Under the lights that hung above the entrance to the fern room stood Caroline Darrah like a flower blown against the deep green of the tall palms behind her , and her eyes were lifted to Andrew 's face which smiled down at her with suppressed tragedy .