midday
All that hot August morning Tillie worked in a daze . Mrs. McKee watched her and said nothing . She interpreted the girl 's white face and set lips as the result of having had to dismiss Schwitter again , and looked for time to bring peace , as it had done before . Le Moyne came late to his midday meal . For once , the mental anaesthesia of endless figures had failed him . On his way home he had drawn his small savings from the bank , and mailed them , in cash and registered , to a back street in the slums of a distant city . He had done this before , and always with a feeling of exaltation , as if , for a time at least , the burden he carried was lightened .