eleven o'clock
Mademoiselle thought that she had not seen such a merry assembly since leaving her own dear land , or heard such a babel of tongues . Everyone seemed to know everyone else , and to be on terms of closest intimacy and affection ; everyone talked at once and exclaimed with rapture and admiration at the preparations for the entertainment . It was easy to amuse such a company , and dancing and games were carried on with gusto in the long drawing-room , which had been prepared for the occasion , and looked comparatively festive with great fires burning in the fireplaces at either end . Soon after eleven o'clock the different members of the O'Shaughnessy family began to slip out of the room , but almost before their absence was noted , the Major was ringing a bell to attract attention and marshalling the company to the far end of the room . At the same signal two servants entered the room , turned out the lamps , and drew aside the curtains from the mullioned windows , through which the grounds could be seen , lying white and still in the moonlight . There was a rustle of expectation among the guests , for evidently something was about to happen , something appropriate to the day and the hour , yet what it could be no one had the ghost of an idea . That was the best of those dear O'Shaughnessys , a smiling lady confided to Geoffrey Hilliard -- no one could tell what they would be up to next !