noon
If people avoided him in that country , he must be a very hard citizen indeed . And Hazel no more than formulated this opinion than she was ashamed of it , having her own recent experience in mind . Whereupon she dismissed Bill Wagstaff from her thoughts altogether when she left the table . Exactly three days later Hazel came into the dining-room at noon , and there received her first lesson in the truth that this world is a very small place , after all . A nattily dressed gentleman seated to one side of her place at table rose with the most polite bows and extended hand . Hazel recognized him at a glance as Mr. Howard Perkins , traveling salesman for Harrington & Bush . She had met him several times in the company offices .