noon
The news of Anthony 's treachery , and still more his silence , performed the incredible , and doubled her pain without breaking her heart . On the Tuesday morning early Lady Maxwell had sent her note by a courier ; bidding him return at once with the answer . The evening had come , and he had not appeared . The night passed and the morning came ; and it was not till noon that the man at last arrived , saying he had seen Mr. Norris on the previous evening , and that he had read the note through there and then , and had said there was no answer . Surely there could be but one explanation of that -- that no answer was possible . It could not be said that Isabel actively considered the question and chose to doubt Anthony rather than to trust him . She was so nearly passive now , with the struggle she had gone through , that this blow came on her with the overwhelming effect of an hypnotic suggestion .