about six o’clock
`` But what a mistake to go as a character you know nothing about . To enjoy a masquerade ball you ought to throw away your own self and be the character you represent . Now Courtenay has been Harlequin since half-way through dinner ; I could see it dancing in his eyes . At about six o'clock to-morrow morning he will fall asleep and wake up a member of the British House of Parliament on his honeymoon , but to-night he is unrestrainedly Harlequin . '' Elaine stood in the ball-room surrounded by a laughing jostling throng of pierrots , jockeys , Dresden-china shepherdesses , Roumanian peasant-girls and all the lively make-believe creatures that form the ingredients of a fancy-dress ball . As she stood watching them she experienced a growing feeling of annoyance , chiefly with herself . She was assisting , as the French say , at one of the gayest scenes of Europe 's gayest capital , and she was conscious of being absolutely unaffected by the gaiety around her .