midday
On the street not a man and hardly a woman failed to look at her with wonder and open admiration , for she was an apparition in that little town and it all pleased her so much that she became flushed and conscious and felt like a queen who , unknown , moved among her subjects and blessed them just with her gracious presence . For she was unknown even by several people whom she knew and that , too , pleased her -- to have bloomed so quite beyond their ken . She was like a meteor coming back to dazzle the very world from which it had flown for a while into space . When she went into the dining-room for the midday dinner , there was a movement in almost every part of the room as though there were many there who were on the lookout for her entrance . The head waiter , a portly darky , lost his imperturbable majesty for a moment in surprise at the vision and then with a lordly yet obsequious wave of his hand , led her to a table over in a corner where no one was sitting . Four young men came in rather boisterously and made for her table . She lifted her calm eyes at them so haughtily that the one in front halted with sudden embarrassment and they all swerved to another table from which they stared at her surreptitiously .