noon
What should it be ? All that afternoon he tried to make a small decision which should settle the great decision . Of course , he might pitch up a penny ? no , the swiftness of such judgment seemed beyond endurance ; he might say : `` if it rains before noon , I 'll let her go ; '' then he could watch the skies , and meet the decision gradually ; no ; it rained so often in March ! If when he got back to the hotel he found her wearing this piece of jewelry or that ; if the grimy pigeon , teetering up and down on the granite coping across the street , flew away before he reached the next crossing ... . On and on his mind went , jibing away , terrified , from each suggestion ; then returning to it again . It was dusk when he came back to the hotel .