midday
Wrap the truth in words however careful , he could not but wound her . Yet sooner or later she must hear of his return , and avoidance of her would but tell the story more cruelly than his lips . `` Yes , I will gladly come , '' he said , `` if I may come down on the first day . '' He was delayed in London until midday , and so motored after luncheon through Guildford and Chiddingfold and Petworth to Rackham Park . The park ran down to the Midhurst Road , and when Hillyard was shown into the drawing-room he walked across to the window and looked out over a valley of fields and hedges and low , dark ridges to the downs lying blue in the sunlight and the black forests on their slopes . From an embrasure a girl rose with a book in her hand . `` Let me introduce myself , Mr. Hillyard .