midnight
` Shoot him , and shoot her , too , if there 's no better way of saving her . It will be an act of mercy , ' said Mr. Fitzpatrick , without hesitation . While Lord Hartfield sat in his friend 's office in Great George Street reading the life story of Gomez de Montesma , told with the cruel precision and the unvarnished language of a criminal indictment , the hero of that history was gliding round the spacious ballroom of the Cowes Club , with Lady Lesbia Haselden 's dark-brown head almost reclining on his shoulder , her violet eyes looking up at his every now and then , shyly , entrancingly , as he bent his head to talk to her . The Squadron Ball was in full swing between midnight and the first hour of morning . The flowers had not lost their freshness , the odours of dust and feverish human breath had not yet polluted the atmosphere . The windows were open to the purple night , the purple sea . The stars seemed to be close outside the verandah , shining on purpose for the dancers ; and these two -- the man tall , pale , dark , with flashing eyes and short , sleek raven hair , small head , noble bearing ; the girl divinely lovely in her marble purity of complexion , her classical grace of form -- these two were , as every one avowed and acknowledged , the handsomest couple in the room .