noon
Here , again , he saw , or thought he saw , the all-powerful hand of the machine . He had been used for a purpose , the purpose of hoodwinking and deceiving the voters . That purpose having been served , he was to be dropped -- was already dropped , as it seemed . By noon the sheer time-killing effort became blankly unbearable , and in desperation he broke with another of the ideals -- the one labelled sincerity -- and going boldly to the Inter-Mountain he waited in the lobby for the family party of three to come down to the one-o'clock luncheon in the public _ café _ . Joining the party when it came down , he found it difficult only in the inner sanctuaries to maintain the _ status quo ante _ Gryson . There was no shadow of suspicion or coolness in his father 's kindly smile and genial greeting , and Mrs. Honoria rallied him playfully upon the narrow margin by which he had held his own and Patricia 's places at the Gordon dinner-table the night before . Only in Patricia 's eyes he read a curious questioning , a hint that they were finding something in his eyes which was new and not wholly understandable .