midday
Gloria wished to be the first everywhere , though she did not say so . Little by little , she came less regularly in the mornings . She either stayed at home and studied seriously the soprano parts of the great operas then fashionable , or invented small errands which kept her out of doors . She sometimes met Reanda when he left the palace , and they walked home together to their midday breakfast . Little by little , also , Francesca fell into the habit of visiting Reanda in the great hall at hours when she was sure that Gloria would not be there . It was not that she disliked to see them together , but rather because she felt that Gloria was secretly antagonistic . There was a small , perpetual , unexpressed hostility in Gloria 's manner which could not escape so sensitive a woman as Francesca .