three o'clock
One by one the slow-dragging hours wore away . The dancers ' ranks were thinned ; but those who remained , gyrated as insensately as ever . There was an air of greater freedom over the ball-room . The chaperons who , earlier in the evening , had sat patiently on the red velvet sofas , had vanished with their charges , and , in their train , the more sedate of the company : it was past three o'clock , and now , every few minutes , a cloaked couple crossed a corner of the hall to the street-door . When Maurice went downstairs , he could not find Louise , and some time elapsed before she and Herries emerged from the supper-room . Although the lines beneath her eyes were like rings of hammered iron , she danced anew , went on to the very end , with a few other infatuated people . Finally , the tired musicians rose stiffly to pack their instruments ; and , with a sigh of exhaustion , she received on her shoulders the cloak Maurice stood holding .