midday
Then slip away -- do n't let him know where -- and there is one woman in the world who will hold you in her inmost heart , who will pray for you with her secretest , sacredest prayers , as long as you live ! ' The two fell into each other 's embrace . Lucy , with the maternal tenderness that should have been Eleanor 's , pressed her lips on the hot brow that lay upon her breast , murmuring words of promise , of consolation , of self-reproach , feeling her whole being passing out to Eleanor 's in a great tide of passionate will and pity . They were all going down to the midday train for Rome . At last the Ambassador -- who had been passing through a series of political and domestic difficulties , culminating in the mutiny of his Neapolitan cook -- had been able to carry out his whim . A luncheon had been arranged for the young American girl who had taken his fancy . At the head of his house for the time being was his married daughter , Lady Mary , who had come from India for the winter to look after her babies and her father .