About noon
Even after Eleanor had been served with the unpalatable truth , generously garnished with unpleasant gossip , she still clung to her belief in Harold and the conviction that he would be able to explain everything when she saw him . Quin 's report of Madam 's offer to send her to New York was received in noncommittal silence . She would agree to nothing , she declared , until she saw Harold , her only concession being that she would stay in bed until the afternoon and not see him before evening . About noon a messenger-boy brought her a box of flowers and a bulky letter . The latter had evidently been written immediately after Harold 's talk with Rose , and he made the fatal mistake of concluding , from her remarks , that Eleanor had changed her mind after sending the telegram and had not come to Chicago . He therefore gave free rein to his imagination , describing in burning rhetoric how he had received her message Saturday night just as he was retiring , how he tossed impatiently on his bed all night , and rose at dawn to be at the station when the train came in . He pictured vividly his ecstasy of expectation , his futile search , his bitter disappointment .