noon
Roy was a big , fat , blond boy , good-natured and stupid and rather in love with Norma , and as the girl was entirely unconscious of Annie 's original plan , she was quite satisfied with him . The dress rehearsal was on a dark Thursday afternoon before the Saturday of the performance . It took place in the big empty auditorium , where it was to drag along from twelve o'clock noon , until the preparations for the regular evening performance drove the amateurs , protesting , away . Snow was fluttering down over the city when Annie , with Norma , and a limousine full of properties , reached the place at noon ; motor-cars were wheeling and crowding in the side street , and it seemed to Norma thrilling to enter so confidently at the big , dirty , sheet-iron door lettered : `` STAGE DOOR . NO ADMITTANCE . '' As always to the outsider , the wings , the shabby dressing-rooms , the novel feeling of sauntering across the big , dim stage , the gloom of the great rising arch of the house , were full of charm . Voices and hammers were sounding in the gloom ; somebody was talking hard while he fitfully played the piano ; girls were giggling and fluttering about ; footlights flashed up and down , in the front rows of seats a few mothers and maids had gathered .