four o'clock
Probably the evil ; else why was the effect that of unrest rather than of undisturbed charm ? Why was the wish to look again felt as coercion and not as a longing in which the whole being consents ? She who raised these questions in Daniel Deronda 's mind was occupied in gambling : not in the open air under a southern sky , tossing coppers on a ruined wall , with rags about her limbs ; but in one of those splendid resorts which the enlightenment of ages has prepared for the same species of pleasure at a heavy cost of gilt mouldings , dark-toned color and chubby nudities , all correspondingly heavy -- forming a suitable condenser for human breath belonging , in great part , to the highest fashion , and not easily procurable to be breathed in elsewhere in the like proportion , at least by persons of little fashion . It was near four o'clock on a September day , so that the atmosphere was well-brewed to a visible haze . There was deep stillness , broken only by a light rattle , a light chink , a small sweeping sound , and an occasional monotone in French , such as might be expected to issue from an ingeniously constructed automaton . Round two long tables were gathered two serried crowds of human beings , all save one having their faces and attention bent on the tables . The one exception was a melancholy little boy , with his knees and calves simply in their natural clothing of epidermis , but for the rest of his person in a fancy dress .