noon
The whole company would be suddenly likewise affected , the game would break up with a few brief words , and Emeline , going in with her guests to help them with hats and wraps , would find herself utterly silent , too cold and weary for even the most casual civilities . When the others had gone , she and George would turn the lights out on the wreckage of the dining-room , and stagger silently to bed . Fatigue would follow Emeline well into the next day after one of these card parties . If George was going out of town , she would send Julia off to play with other children in the house , and lie in bed until noon , getting up now and then to hold a conversation with some tradesman through a crack in the door . At one she might sally forth in her favourite combination of wrapper and coat to buy cream and rolls , and Julia would be regaled on sausages , hot cakes , bakery cookies , and coffee , or come in to find no lunch at all , and that her mother had gone out for the afternoon . Emeline had grown more and more infatuated with the theatre and all that pertained to it . She went to matinees twice a week , and she and her group of intimate friends also `` went Dutch '' to evening performances whenever it was possible .