nearly six o'clock
Val rose and pulled back a curtain . The morning sky was full of grey light , and long pale shadows fell over frost-silvered turf : mists were steaming up like pale smoke from the river , over whose surface they swept in fantastic shapes like ghosts taking hands in an evanescent arabesque : the clouds , the birds , the flowers were all awake . The house was awake too , and in fact it was the clatter of a housemaid 's brush on the staircase that had roused Bernard . `` It 's nearly six o'clock , '' said Val . `` You 've had a long sleep , Berns . I 'm afraid the others have missed their train . '' `` Missed their train ! ''