noon
From time to time Bella would turn to bestow upon her a look intended to convey intense suffering and a resolute though dying condition . Fanny stonily ignored these mute messages . They offended something in her , though she could not tell what . At the noon intermission she did not go home to the tempting dinner smells , but wandered off through the little city park and down to the river , where she sat on the bank and felt very virtuous , and spiritual , and hollow . She was back in her seat when the afternoon service was begun . Some of the more devout members had remained to pray all through the midday . The congregation came straggling in by twos and threes .