noon
All day he had thought over the situation between Dick and Elizabeth , with growing pain and uneasiness . He had not spoken of it to Lucy , or to Harrison Miller ; he knew that they would not understand , and that Lucy would suffer . She was bewildered enough by Dick 's departure . At noon he had insisted on getting up and being helped into his trousers . So clad he felt more of a man and better able to cope with things , although his satisfaction in them was somewhat modified by the knowledge of two safety-pins at the sides , to take up their superfluous girth at the waistband . But even the sense of being clothed as a man again did not make it easier to say to Walter Wheeler what must be said . Walter took the news of Dick 's return with a visible brightening .