noon
Then there was the Polo Club House and ground , where many of the city 's social functions were held . The whole thing was as pretentious as money could make it , and in due proportion it was attractive to the minds of those who believed themselves leaders in their social world . Nan Tristram understood all this and smiled at it , just as she understood that to absent oneself from the Polo Club Races in Cattle Week would be to send in one 's resignation from the exclusive social circles to which she belonged , a position quite unthinkable for one who sought only the mild excitements which pertain to early youth . The noon following the ball , and all the disturbed moments which it inspired , found Nan on the way to the Polo Club Races . Her party was riding , and it was an extensive party . There were some twenty and more saddles . Luncheon had been sent on ahead , catered for by Aston 's Hotel at Jeffrey Masters ' expense , one of the many social duties which his election to the Presidency of the Western Union Cattle Breeders ' Association entitled him to undertake during the Cattle Week .