noon
She broke every shaft with unfailing humor , and girded her repugnance as added strength for the End . There were moments she did not relish . Strain settled with the darkening day . She thought of the face she had seen at her carriage at noon -- a tortured face -- and what he had passed through since , cramped in the forecastle ! Perhaps he was unconscious from the heat and the suffocating place -- and from the illness she could never understand ... . But in Miss Mallory all these thoughts and conditions drew upon as perfect a nervous organization as could be found anywhere in these complicated days -- and it was over at last . Sorenson and his wife followed her on deck after supper , the other three tarrying below .