noon
If the war was over by that time -- and everyone said it must be , for so hideous a combat could not possibly last more than six or eight months -- then they would go to England and the Continent , but otherwise they might drift through Canada to the Pacific Coast , and even come back by San Francisco and the newly opened Canal . Meanwhile , Annie entertained her niece royally and untiringly . Formal dinners to old family friends must come first , but when spring arrived Leslie was promised house parties and yachting trips more after her own heart . The girl was so excited , so bewildered and tired , even after the first two weeks , that she remained in bed until noon every day , and had a young maid especially detailed to take her dressmaker 's fittings for her . But even so she lost weight , her cheeks burned and her eyes glittered feverishly , and her voice took an unnaturally high key , her speech a certain shallow quickness . Acton 's undeviating adoration she took with a pretty , spoiled acquiescence , and with old family friends she was charmingly dutiful and deferential , but always with the air of sparing a few glittering drops to their age and dulness from the overflowing cup of her youth and beauty and power . But with her grandmother and aunts she had a new attitude of self-confidence , and to her girl friends she was no longer the old intimate and equal , but a being who had , for the moment at least , left them all behind .