noon
`` But human nature is weak , my child ; if my heart be so now , what will be yours ? '' `` Fear me not , '' answered Susan , with a sad , wandering smile ; and she repeated vacantly : `` I will see him ! '' The good man looked at her , threw his arms round her wasted form , and lifting up his eyes , his lips stirred with such half-syllabled words as fathers breathe on high . Dalibard had undertaken to get Lucretia from the house , -- in fact , her approaching marriage rendered necessary a communication with Mr. Parchmount , as executor to her uncle 's will , relative to the transfer of her portion ; and she had asked Dalibard to accompany her thither ; for her pride shrank from receiving the lawyer in the shabby parlour of the shabby lodging-house ; she therefore , that evening , fixed the next day , before noon , for the visit . A carriage was hired for the occasion , and when it drove off , Mr. Fielden took his children a walk to Primrose Hill , and called , as was agreed , on Mainwaring by the way . The carriage had scarcely rattled fifty yards through the street when Dalibard fixed his eyes with deep and solemn commiseration on Lucretia . Hitherto , with masterly art , he had kept aloof from direct explanations with his pupil ; he knew that she would distrust no one like himself .