nearly twelve o’clock
She who had been queen of his heart and the idol of his life could not bear to receive cold looks and careless words , and to be looked upon as an encumbrance and a trouble . So she thought if she left him altogether and never saw him again he would , perhaps , be sorry for her and cherish her memory tenderly for evermore . If she had only known Gaston 's true nature she would not thus have buoyed herself up with false hopes of his sorrow , but as she believed in him as implicitly as a woman in love with a man always does , in a spirit of self-abnegation she cut herself off from him , thinking it would be to his advantage if not to her own . She went into town and wandered about listlessly , not knowing where to go , till nearly twelve o'clock , and the streets were gradually emptying themselves of their crowds . The coffee stalls were at all the corners , with hungry-looking people of both sexes crowded round them , and here and there in door steps could be seen some outcasts resting in huddled heaps , while the policemen every now and then would come up and make them move on . Kitty was footsore and heart-weary , and felt inclined to cry , but was nevertheless resolved not to go back to her home in Richmond . She dragged herself along the lonely street , and round the corner came on a coffee stall with no one at it except one small boy whose head just reached up to the counter .