three o'clock
in the morning
and again alas ! poor Freda ! However , all things come to an end , and an heiress 's twenty-first birthday amongst them . Miss Nugent 's did not finish till three o'clock in the morning , at which hour , Mr and Miss Gwynne and Colonel Vaughan were driving home from the festivities at Pentre . The gentlemen were keeping up a rather lively conversation on the events of the evening , and the lady was sustaining a very strong conflict with her own pride . As the carriage rolled past a certain large oak tree in the Park , Freda suddenly remembered Rowland Prothero . About a twelvemonth ago she had left him beneath that oak , humbled and deeply pained , doubtless , by her haughty words .