midday
No one else must learn of her pilgrimage , since Betty might forgive her presence and yet could not rally to meet the astonishment and sympathy of any other of her friends . So Polly told several impatient fibs to the persons who insisted upon learning where she intended going , before she was able to get outside of Woodford and into the blessed solitude of the country lanes . The air was colder by this time and light flurries of snow kept blinding her eyes as she hurried along . However , she had not so forgotten her training in woodcraft as not to recognize signs of Betty 's having preceded her along almost the same route ; for here and there , where the earth had thawed in the midday warmth , there were impressions of the Princess ' shoes . And she even picked up a small crushed handkerchief which had been dropped by the way . Therefore in spite of her depression over Mrs. Ashton 's information , Polly was beginning to get a kind of hold upon herself . For it was her place , if she possibly could manage it , to persuade Betty that , after all , life was not so utterly changed by yesterday 's discovery .