midday
In the midst of the perplexing doubt , which tried the judges ' minds , came the hour for dinner , and the decision was postponed until after that meal . The competitors left the arena , and the spectators transferred their attention to unburdening hampers , or to jostling one another in the dining-hall . Everybody was feasting but Cynthia Hollis . The intense excitement of the day , the novel sights and sounds utterly undreamed of in her former life , the abruptly struck chords of new emotions suddenly set vibrating within her , had dulled her relish for the midday meal ; and while the other members of the family repaired to the shade of a tree outside the grounds to enjoy that refection , she wandered about the `` floral hall , '' gazing at the splendors of bloom thronging there , all so different from the shy grace , the fragility of poise , the delicacy of texture of the flowers of her ken , -- the rhododendron , the azalea , the Chilhowee lily , -- yet vastly imposing in their massed exuberance and scarlet pride , for somehow they all seemed high colored . She went more than once to note with a kind of aghast dismay those trophies of feminine industry , the quilts ; some were of the `` log cabin '' and `` rising sun '' variety , but others were of geometric intricacy of form and were kaleidoscopic of color with an amazing labyrinth of stitchings and embroideries -- it seemed a species of effrontery to dub one gorgeous poly-tinted silken banner a quilt . But already it bore a blue ribbon , and its owner was the richer by the prize of a glass bowl and the envy of a score of deft-handed competitors . She gazed upon the glittering jellies and preserves , upon the biscuits and cheeses , the hair-work and wax flowers , and paintings .