noon
If everything is all right , then so much the better . If it is n't -- well -- we shall at least have given them their chance . '' The players lingered in the Hardings ' living room to discuss the coming contest , go over their signals and prepare themselves as effectually as possible for the fray . It was almost noon when Marjorie sped up the stairs to her room , there to put into execution the search she had decided to make . Mary 's letters to her , tied with a bit of blue ribbon , reposed in a pretty lacquered box designed especially to hold them . Marjorie untied the ribbon and fingered them with a sigh of regret for the happy past . Most of them were written on white paper , a few were on pale blue , Mary 's color .