noon
Having seen the patient , who was fatigued with unwonted exertion , sleeping quietly , Phillida returned home . She said nothing of her experiences of the day , but Millard , who called in the evening , found her more abstracted and less satisfactory than ever . For her mind continually reverted to her patient . The next day , though a great snow-storm had burst upon the city before noon , Phillida made haste after luncheon to work her way first to the Diet Kitchen and then to the Schulenberg tenement . When she got within the shelter of the doorway of the tenement house she was well-nigh exhausted , and it was half a minute before she could begin the arduous climbing of the stairs . `` I thought you would not come , '' said Wilhelmina with something like a cry of joy . `` I have found it hard to keep on believing , but still I have believed and prayed .