midnight
enquired Smith naïvely . Clinch looked at him , very drunk : `` None o ' your dinged business , '' he said very softly . The dancing had become boisterous but not unseemly , although all the men had been drinking too freely . Smith closed the pantry bar at midnight , by direction of Eve . Now he came out into the ballroom and mixed affably with the company , even dancing with Harvey Chase 's sister once -- a slender hoyden , all flushed and dishevelled , with a tireless mania for dancing which seemed to intoxicate her . She danced , danced , danced , accepting any partner offered . But Smith 's skill enraptured her and she refused to let him go when her beau , a late arrival , one Charlie Berry , slouched up to claim her .