two
o’clock in the morning
He threw himself upon them . He talked delightfully to the older ones and played accompaniments for the younger ones until the last sleepy girl had followed her mother below . Then he went into the smoking-room . He played bridge until two o'clock in the morning , and managed to lose a considerable sum of money without really noticing that he was doing so . After the break of one fine day the weather was pretty consistently dull . When the low sky thinned a trifle , the pale white spot of a sun did no more than throw a bluish lustre on the water , giving it the dark brightness of newly cut lead . Through one after another of those gray days Alexander drowsed and mused , drinking in the grateful moisture .