one o'clock
`` I 'll never be a real singer , '' she thought dolefully , as she walked slowly towards Artemis Lodge . `` Tancredi does n't care a rap about my voice and I do n't believe she 'd have bothered with me if it had n't been to please Madame Milano , and Madame Milano only told me to go on because she wanted to please Elinor and Bruce because they are friends of the Van Kelts , who are such chums with her Dutch friend . '' If she had not been so woebegone she would have laughed at this string of disheartening reasons for her being so falsely encouraged to compete with gifted creatures like Rosamond Merton , but her gloom was too deep and too real to see the funny side of anything just then . The clock in the tower was pointing to twelve as she passed along on the other side of the Square , and she looked wistfully up at the big window of the studio , where she knew that Elinor or Bruce would be just dismissing a model and making ready to clean their brushes and tidy up for the one o'clock luncheon which they always had sent in to them . `` I wonder if they 'd care if they never saw me again , '' she thought with what she instantly knew to be shallow sentimentality . `` I suppose they would care , '' she acknowledged , and her sense of justice saved her from any more silly speeches like that . `` They think I 'm an awful goose , though , '' she amended , and she knew she was rather safe in this .