eleven o'clock
Before long , the Duchess , with her partner , Lady Glencora , won the game , -- which fact , however , was , I think , owing rather to Alice 's ignorance than to her Grace 's skill . The Duchess , however , was very triumphant , and made her way back into the drawing-room with a step which seemed to declare loudly that she had trumped Mrs. Sparkes at last . Not long after this the ladies went up-stairs on their way to bed . Many of them , perhaps , did not go to their pillows at once , as it was as yet not eleven o'clock , and it was past ten when they all came down to breakfast . At any rate , Alice , who had been up at seven , did not go to bed then , nor for the next two hours . `` I 'll come into your room just for one minute , '' Lady Glencora said as she passed on from the door to her own room ; and in about five minutes she was back with her cousin . `` Would you mind going into my room -- it 's just there , and sitting with Ellen for a minute ? ''