twelve o’clock
By this time the children who swarm in the side-rooms are not to be kept quiet longer , even by hunches of bread and cake ; there is a general howl and wail , that rises yet higher than the scraping of fiddles , and mothers rush from their partners to knock small heads together , and cuff little nursemaids , and force the wailers down into unoccupied corners of beds , under tables and behind boxes . In half an hour every variety of childish snore is heard on all sides , and it has become perilous to raise or set down a foot in any of the side-rooms lest a small head or hand should be crushed . Now too the busy feet have broken the solid coating of the floor , and a cloud of fine dust arises , that makes a yellow halo round the candles , and sets asthmatic people coughing , and grows denser , till to recognise any one on the opposite side of the room becomes impossible , and a partner 's face is seen through a yellow mist . At twelve o'clock the bride is led to the marriage-chamber and undressed ; the lights are blown out , and the bridegroom is brought to the door by the best man , who gives him the key ; then the door is shut and locked , and the revels rise higher than ever . There is no thought of sleep till morning , and no unoccupied spot where sleep may be found . It was at this stage of the proceedings on the night of Tant Sannie 's wedding that Lyndall sat near the doorway in one of the side-rooms , to watch the dancers as they appeared and disappeared in the yellow cloud of dust . Gregory sat moodily in a corner of the large dancing-room .