noon
In that moment it must have been removed by the major , Frank Annon , or my lady ; Sir Jasper was out of the question , for he never touched an ornament in the drawing room since he had awkwardly demolished a whole _ étagère _ of costly trifles , to his mother 's and sister 's great grief . The major evidently suspected something , Annon was jealous , and my lady would be glad of a pretext to remove her daughter from his reach . Trusting to his skill in reading faces , he waited impatiently for morning , resolving to say nothing to anyone but Mrs. Snowdon , and from her merely to inquire what the note contained . Treherne usually was invisible till lunch , often till dinner ; therefore , fearing to excite suspicion by unwonted activity , he did not appear till noon . The mailbag had just been opened , and everyone was busy over their letters , but all looked up to exchange a word with the newcomer , and Octavia impulsively turned to meet him , then checked herself and hid her suddenly crimsoned face behind a newspaper . Treherne 's eye took in everything , and saw at once in the unusually late arrival of the mail a pretext for discovering the pilferer of the note . `` All have letters but me , yet I expected one last night .