midday
In the sunlight its black hull was so sharply outlined on the sea , its lines and spars were so trim that it looked a miniature ship which she could reach out her hand and snatch . But her eyes grew dim as she watched , so that it became shapeless and blurred , and long before the liner was out of sight it was quite lost to her . `` I am foolish , '' she said as she turned away , and she bit her handkerchief hard . This was midday of the Friday and ever since that dinner-party at the Carruthers ' on the Monday night she had been alternating between wild hopes and arguments of prudence . But until this moment of disappointment she had not realised how completely the hopes had gained the upper hand with her and how extravagantly she had built upon Thresk 's urgent questioning of her at the dinner-table . `` Very likely he never found the Ballantynes at all , '' she argued . But he might have sent her word .