noon
You 're the one that has changed . '' Winter came on rapidly . The mornings were dark and cold now when Susan dressed , the office did not grow comfortably warm until ten o'clock , and the girls wore their coats loose across their shoulders as they worked . Sometimes at noon Miss Thornton and Susan fared forth into the cold , sunny streets , and spent the last half of the lunch-hour in a brisk walk . They went into the high-vaulted old Post Street Library for books , threaded their way along Kearney Street , where the noontide crowd was gaily ebbing and flowing , and loitered at the Flower Market , at Lotta 's Fountain , drinking in the glory of violets and daffodils , under the winter sun . Now and then they lunched uptown at some inexpensive restaurant that was still quiet and refined . The big hotels were far too costly but there were several pretty lunchrooms , `` The Bird of Paradise , '' `` The London Tearoom , '' and , most popular of all , `` The Ladies Exchange . ''