midday
`` Jean , '' she called to her maid , as she passed through the little hall , `` Will you open the door for this gentleman ? '' In her own room , she slid down into a large cushioned chair and sobbed her heart out . It was there Hal found her . By the merest chance she had run up to the flat at her midday hour , to ask a question about Sir Edwin Crathie . and a rumour concerning him that she felt an imperative need to have answered . When she saw Lorraine in tears the question was instantly banished for the moment . Had Lorraine been in her normal condition , she could hardly have failed to notice that the `` Hal '' who came up in haste to ask this urgent question was not the `` Hal '' of a few months , a few weeks ago .