two o'clock in the morning
The Gaston Cheverny of other days I still loved tenderly . This Gaston Cheverny I regarded with entire indifference . I did not fail to remind myself that seven years ' separation , as complete as if we had inhabited different worlds , might make this change , but I could not deny that the change seemed wholly on my side ; for , unless he were as good an actor as I , he felt for me all the warmth of affectionate friendship which had once been ours in common . Tormented with this singular revulsion of feeling , I remained long in the garden , until my eye happening to fall on the sun dial , I was reminded there was such a thing as time , and I heard a distant bell chiming two o'clock in the morning , when I returned to the château and went to bed . Next morning the château was awake early , and then began , in the sweet May weather , a round of festivities which lasted every day of our stay at Capello . Fêtes in the fields , in the May days ; masquerades by night , with water parties on the canal , where hidden music played ; and always winding up with a ball in the Diana gallery , -- these were our regular occupations . In all of these pastimes Francezka shone as queen .