ten o'clock
After this the company settled down to business . The dances lasted a sweltering half-hour , old women and young dancing with equal and tireless zest . At the end of each the gentlemen abandoned their partners without ceremony or comment , and went out to smoke , while the ladies retired to the laundry , where families of teapots stewed on the long bars of the fire , and Mrs. Mahony cut up mighty `` barm-bracks , '' and the tea-drinking was illimitable . At ten o'clock Mrs. Knox withdrew from the revel ; she said that she was tired , but I have seldom seen any one look more wide awake . I thought that I might unobtrusively follow her example , but I was intercepted by Flurry . `` Yeates , '' he said seriously , `` I 'll take it as a kindness if you 'll see this thing out with me . We must keep them pretty sober , and get them out of this by daylight .