midday
Whereupon the lady secretary put a red-ink cross before Harmony 's name . There were many such crosses on the ledger . For three days Byrne hardly saw Harmony . He was off early in the morning , hurried back to the midday meal and was gone again the moment it was over . He had lectures in the evenings , too , and although he lingered for an hour or so after supper it was to find Harmony taken possession of by the little Bulgarian , seized with a sudden thirst for things American . On the evening of the second day he had left Harmony , enmeshed and helpless in a tangle of language , trying to explain to the little Bulgarian the reason American women wished to vote . Byrne flung down the stairs and out into the street , almost colliding with Stewart .