one o'clock
When she picked it up , the flash of passion came tearing through her heart , and the `` no '' crashed in her ears again , and all the day 's struggle was for nothing . So she went to bed , resolved not to go . But she stared through the window into the night , and of a sudden a resolve came to her to go , and have one fair day with Hendricks -- to talk it all out forever , and then to come home , and she rose from her bed and tiptoed through the house packing a valise . She left a note in the kitchen for the servant , saying that she would be back for dinner the next evening , and when she struck a match in the front hall to see what time it was , she found that it was only one o'clock . For an hour she sat in the chill September air on the veranda , thinking it all over -- what she would say ; how they would meet and part ; and over and over again she told herself that she was doing the sensible thing . As the clock struck two she picked up her valise -- it was heavier than she thought , and it occurred to her that she had put in many unnecessary things , and that she had time to lighten it . But she stopped a moment only , and then walked to the gate and down a side street to the station .