noon
`` Yes , I know , '' said she . That morning Amabel would not eat any breakfast , and Fanny suggested that Ellen take her for a ride on the street-cars . `` We can get along without you for an hour , '' she whispered , `` and I am afraid that child will be sick . '' So Ellen and Amabel set out , leaving Fanny and the dressmaker at work , and when they were returning past the factories the noon whistles were blowing and the operatives were streaming forth . Ellen was surprised to see her father among them as the car swept past . He walked down the street towards home , his dinner-bag dangling at his side , his back more bent than ever . She wondered uneasily if her father was ill , for he never went home to dinner .