noon
The truth was that Claire Robson was feeling all the fanatical cruelty that comes with sudden conviction . The forms of her new faith had hardened too quickly and left outlines sharp and uncompromising . For years Claire had found shelter from the glare of middle-class snobbery beating about her head , by shrinking into her mother 's inadequate shadow as a desert bird shrinks into the thin shadow of a dry reed by some burned-out watercourse . Now a full noon of disillusionment had annihilated this shadow and given her the courage of necessity . And there was something more than courage -- there was an eagerness to stand alone in the commonplace words with which she sought to temper her refusal to assist at the coming church reception : `` I ca n't see any good reason , mother , why you should n't go and help Mrs. Towne ... . What have my plans to do with it ? '' To which her mother answered : `` I do so hate to be seen at such places alone , Claire . ''