noon
At the table , their neighbours on either side being deeply engaged in conversation with their respective partners , Captain Horton found himself placed in an exceedingly trying position , but until he had finished his soup , which he ate but did not taste , he made no attempt to speak . The name of Eden mystified him , and more than once his eyes wandered to that portrait hanging on the wall opposite to where he was sitting , to find its grey eyes watching him ; yet he had no doubt in his mind that the young lady by his side was the girl he had known at Dawson Place as Fan Affleck . At length , to avoid attracting attention , he felt compelled to say something , and made some commonplace remarks about the weather -- its excessive heat and dryness ; it had not been so hot for years . `` At noon in the City to-day , '' he said , `` the thermometer marked eighty-nine degrees in the shade . '' Fan 's monosyllabic replies were scarcely audible ; she was very pale , and kept her eyes religiously fixed on the table before her . At length she ventured to glance at him , and could not help noticing , in spite of her distress , that he seemed as ill at ease as herself . He crumbled his bread to powder on the cloth , and when he raised his glass to drink , which he did often enough to fill up the time , his hand shook so as almost to spill his wine .