noon
Not Paris , not Buenos Ayres -- they say who have travelled far -- could show such a procession of Dianaides , such a Greek festival of joy in the smooth , vigorous body and the things which feed and clothe it . With that absence of public conventionality which was another ear-mark of the old city , all sorts and conditions of men and women sat side by side at the tables . Harlots , or those who might well pass as such , beside the best morale there is in women ; daughters of washerwomen beside daughters of such proud blood as we have ; bookmakers ' wives , blazing with the jewels which will be pawned to-morrow , beside German housewives on a Saturday night revel ; jockies and touts from the race tracks beside roistering students from Stanford and Berkeley ; soldiers of fortune blown in by the Pacific winds , taking their first intoxicating taste of civilization after their play with death and wealth , beside stodgy burghers grown rich in real estate ; clerks beside magnates -- all united in the worship of the body . At noon , however , its workaday aspect was on ; it was no more than a lunching place . Chester and Kate found seats in a retired corner . She looked him over with cool mischief while she drew off her gloves and let one white hand , still creased in pink with the pressure of the seams , drop toward him on the table . `` I am not exactly to congratulate you , '' she said , `` but for a man who was turned down last night you do n't seem exactly unhappy . ''