noon
`` Dear mamma , '' interposes Lady Gertrude , laughing , `` what a terribly old-fashioned surmise ! No man nowadays kills himself for a false love ; he only goes and gets another . '' But , when the dinner-hour arrives , and no host presents himself to lead Lady FitzAlmont into dinner , a great fear falls upon all the guests save one , and confusion and dismay , and anxious conjecture reign supreme . The night passes ; the next day dawns , deepens , grows into noon , and still nothing happens to relieve the terrible anxiety that is felt by all within the castle as to the fate of its missing master . They weary themselves out wondering , idly but incessantly , what can have become of him . The second day comes and goes , so does the third and the fourth , the fifth and the sixth , and then the seventh dawns . Florence Delmaine , who has been half-distracted with conflicting fears and emotions , and who has been sitting in her room apart from the others , with her head bent down and resting on her hands , suddenly raising her eyes , sees Dora standing before her .