one o'clock in the morning
It was too warm to give balls , but it did not follow that it was at all too hot to dance informally , with the windows open . We do not know why a ball is hotter than a dance ; but it is so . There are things that men do not understand . So dinners were given , to which young people were asked , and afterwards an artistic-looking man appeared from somewhere and played waltzes , and twenty or thirty couples amused themselves to their hearts ' delight till one o'clock in the morning . Moreover , people who had villas gave afternoon teas , without any pretence of giving garden parties , and there also the young ones danced , sometimes on marble pavements in great old rooms that smelt slightly of musty furniture , but were cool and pleasant . Besides these things , there were picnic dinners at Frascati and Castel Gandolfo , and everybody drove home across the Campagna by moonlight . Altogether , and chiefly in Cecilia Palladio 's honour , there was a very pretty little revival of winter gaiety , which is not always very gay in Rome , nowadays .