noon
NOW would he hold still while she brushed his hair ? '' At a few minutes before eleven Travis and her father went to church . They were Episcopalians , and for time out of mind had rented a half-pew in the church of their denomination on California Street , not far from Chinatown . By noon the family reassembled at dinner-table , where Mr. Bessemer ate his chicken-heart -- after Travis had thrice reminded him of it -- and expressed himself as to the sermon and the minister 's theology : sometimes to his daughter and sometimes to himself . After dinner Howard and Snooky foregathered in the nursery with their beloved lead soldiers ; Travis went to her room to write letters ; and Mr. Bessemer sat in the bay window of the dining-room reading the paper from end to end . At five Travis bestirred herself . It was Victorine 's afternoon out .