one o'clock
Hazel 's pride came to her rescue before she was half-way home . Instinctively she had turned to that refuge , where she could lock herself in her own room and cry her protest against it all . But she had done no wrong , nothing of which to be ashamed , and when the first shock of the news article wore off , she threw up her head and refused to consider what the world at large might think . So she went back to the office at one o'clock and took up her work . Long before evening she sensed that others had read the _ Gazette _ . Not that any one mentioned it , but sundry curious glances made her painfully aware of the fact . Mrs. Stout evidently was on the watch , for she appeared in the hall almost as the front door closed behind Hazel .