noon
`` You do not expect me to stand this , Phoebe ? You will have a month 's wages and go to-night . '' `` This morning , ma'am , if you please . '' Before noon her box was packed , and she too had departed . Tom began to understand , as soon as he left the Terrace , that a consciousness of his own innocence was not all that was necessary for his peace of mind . What would other people say ? There was a damning chain of evidence , and what was he to do for a living with no character ?