midday
`` Oh , dear ! '' murmured Aunt Jane , sadly . William , with a look before which she should have sunk into the earth , answered shortly that he did n't think he would . During the midday dinner the grown-ups , as is the foolish fashion of grown-ups , wasted much valuable time in the discussion of such futilities as the weather and the political state of the nation . Aunt Lucy was still suffering and aggrieved . `` I can go this evening , of course , '' she said , `` but it 's not quite the same . The morning service is different .