THE civil servants from the Northern Ireland Office barely beat the DUP's Cedric Wilson to the chairs. They grabbed the seats where George Mitchell and his colleagues were to sit, sat firmly into them and held themselves down with their hands underneath.
It was almost 12.30 a.m. and Sir Patrick Mayhew had announced, after 21 hours of negotiation over two days, that finally he was going to fetch Mr Mitchell and ask him to take the chair. When Sir Patrick and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, left, Mr Wilson made his attempt to take Mr Mitchell's seat, but the civil servants were a step ahead of him - as they had been earlier.
Dr Paisley walked out twice. He objected and left when Sir Patrick went to get Mr Mitchell, but returned. He left again a few minutes later as Mr Mitchell took the chair. He attempted to speak again before leaving, but could not be heard above the standing ovation for Mr Mitchell.
The UUP delegates did not stand, nor did they clap. They had won a significant concession, but also made one for which as they sat under Mr Mitchell's chairmanship for the first time, they were already being condemned by Dr Paisley and Robert McCartney as traitors and for selling out.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon representatives of all parties and governments in Castle Buildings had begun to believe the talks process would collapse at the starting line. "The governments were not personally or politically prepared for the freefall," says one delegate. "They believed everything was agreed, and were caught entirely off guard."
As Sir Patrick Mayhew arrived to introduce the two prime ministers to the waiting delegates at 9 a.m., it was clear there was going to be trouble.
First Mr Trimble, then Dr Paisley and Mr McCartney rose to speak. Mr Trimble said he believed the two governments were trying to impose arrangements for the talks on the participants. Dr Paisley wanted an assurance that Mr Bruton was addressing the gathering as a member of the Irish delegation to the talks, and not as a co sponsor. Mr McCartney made clear his objection to the idea that the two governments were trying to impose a chairman and rules on the talks.
Sir Patrick politely said that when the prime ministers had finished speaking, the parties could discuss how to resolve differences over the procedures.
Mr Major spoke first. As Mr Bruton spoke, a number of DUP and UK Unionist delegates made comments about Articles 2 and 3. "It was murmuring rather than heckling, discourtesy rather than protest," says one person who was present.
The prime ministers went to a press conference at around 3 p.m. When the talks session resumed several unionists asked if Mr Spring ("the foreign minister of a foreign state") was co chairing the session. Mr Spring said that if it would help resolve the procedural issues, he would not insist on jointly chairing that particular session.
The procedural issues, it became clear, would be very difficult to resolve. Mr Trimble said his party would not accept Mr Mitchell under the proposed rules. Dr Paisley and Mr McCartney indicated that they would not accept him at all.
"But the smaller parties were absolutely crucial," says one source. All wanted Mr Mitchell, and the procedures agreed for him.
The next day, Tuesday, there seemed little chance of anything being done either. The delegates convened at 9 a.m. for just 15 minutes. The British and Irish governments had prepared a proposal on how to proceed. This would have Mr Mitchell appointed chairman immediately, a sub committee given a week to discuss his powers and procedures and a proviso that, if there was no agreement within a week, Mr Mitchell would assume the strong powers planned for him by the two governments.
The Ulster Unionists sought and were granted an adjournment to consider the proposal. It would be 15 hours before they formally reconvened.
A grinding series of meetings in various rooms and informal encounters in corridors began. Before lunchtime, an alternative proposal emerged from the Ulster Unionists establish a sub committee to discuss the rules and procedures for the talks, ask them to report back next Wednesday and in the meantime appoint no chairman.
As Mr Mitchell and his colleagues, Gen John de Chastelain and the former Finnish prime minister, Mr Harri Holkeri, sat patiently out of view, some Government and SDLP delegates feared that if the wrangling went on for much longer, Mr Mitchell might get on a plane home.
Inside, Mr Mitchell told the two governments he would wait.
The UUP met the British government to discuss a proposal to weaken considerably the powers to be given to the chairman. It was never going to gain acceptance, and a solution was beginning to seem impossible.
During the late morning and early afternoon, the smaller parties had a series of crucial meetings with Sir Patrick Mayhew. They said that while before the impasse developed they had favoured Mr Mitchell, they were now adamant that he shad to become chairman if the process was to have credibility.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, a UUP delegation including David Trimble, John Taylor, and Jeffrey Donaldson went to the second floor to meet the Tanaiste and Ministers Nora Owen, Proinsias De Rossa and Mervyn Taylor. They talked for an hour. Both sides suggested key concessions that might be possible. The UUP might accept the immediate appointment of Mr Mitchell if the Irish Government accepted that his powers could be determined by the talks participants.
A new draft agreement was produced by the Irish side as a direct result of the conversation. For more than five hours, the precise wording was drafted and redrafted.
The meetings dragged on. At 11.30 p.m. the two government teams were meeting in the British suite of offices. Dr Paisley was heard outside in the corridor, his voice booming. His party had been there all day, they had been treated disgracefully, the British government was doing a secret deal with a foreign minister of a foreign state, he said.
Tempers were frayed as the UUP delegates took their seats in the main meeting room. Mr Mitchell arrived, and the DUP and UK Unionists walked out.