The four consisted of the two Breretons, Lady Ardingly, and Jack Alston; at another table were four more, who, however, abandoned their game at about half-past one, again interrupting Lady Ardingly with their superfluous good-nights, for she was having a very good night indeed. Marie and Maud Brereton had long ago gone to bed, but the other four still played on, in silence for the most part. Occasionally the dummy rose, and refreshed his inner self with something from a side-table, and from time to time the note of a cigarette would sound crisply, as it were, on the soft air of the night. At last a strange change began to pass over the sky, from which the moon had now long set, hardly visible there at first, but making the faces of the players look suddenly white and wan. Then the miracle grew; the dark blue of the sky brightened into dove colour, the stars grew pale, and a little wind stirred in the trees. "You played that abominably, dear Mildred," said Lady Ardingly. "We should have saved it if you had had any sense. What does that make?" She pulled her cloak round her neck as Jack added it up. "The night is growing a little chilly," she said. Mildred, who had been following the figures, looked up. "The night?" she said. "Why what is happening? It is day, is it not?" "Very likely," said Lady Ardingly. "How much is it, Jack? Never mind, tell me to-morrow. I will pay you to-morrow?" Jack rattled his pencil-case between his teeth. "Thirty pounds exactly, Lady Ardingly," he said. They rose and walked across the lawn towards the house, Jack sauntering a little behind, his hands in his pockets, smiling to himself. Mildred dropped behind with him, the other two walking on a few paces ahead. "The most odious hour in the twenty-four!" said Lady Ardingly, looking ghastly in the dawn. "Very trying," said Andrew. "But we have spent the night very well," said the other, as they parted at the foot of the stairs. "A charming Sunday, Mr. Brereton. You and Mildred are great benefactors!" And she hurried upstairs, conscious that she was looking awful, and, in that hour of low vitality which comes with the dawn, not wishing to appear thus before anybody, however insignificant. CHAPTER VIII