Noon
When the hour had gone the class filed back to the study room and Elnora followed in desperation , because she did not know where else to go . She could not study as she had no books , and when the class again left the room to go to another professor for the next recitation , she went also . At least they could put her out if she did not belong there . Noon came at last , and she kept with the others until they dispersed on the sidewalk . She was so abnormally self-conscious she fancied all the hundreds of that laughing , throng saw and jested at her . When she passed the brown-eyed boy walking with the girl of her encounter , she knew , for she heard him say : `` Did you really let that gawky piece of calico get ahead of you ? '' The answer was indistinct .