midday
As time passed she ceased to think much about her need of sympathetic fellowship in her anxiety to get work . She wrote advertisements and answered them ; she applied at schools , and offices , and shops ; she came down to seeking any humble drudgery which would give her the chance to live . It was not till one day in early December that the last flicker of her hope went out . Chance had made her pass at midday along the pavement opposite one of the great restaurants . Lifting her eyes instinctively toward the group of well-dressed people on the steps , she saw that Mrs. Bayford and Marion Grimston were going in , accompanied by Reggie Bradford and the Marquis de Bienville . She had heard little or nothing of them during the last four empty months ; but it was plain now that the lovers were agreed and her own cause abandoned . Up to this moment she had not realized how tenaciously she had clung to the belief that the proud , high-souled girl would yet see justice done her ; and now she had deserted her , like the rest !