noon
It was a little more than half-past three o'clock when the unhappy woman hastened from the studio , unable to bear near her the presence of Lydia Maitland , of that sinister worker of vengeance who had so cruelly revealed to her , with such indisputable proofs , the atrocious affair , the long , the infamous , the inexpiable treason . It was almost six o'clock before Maud Gorka really regained consciousness . A very common occurrence aroused her from the somnambulism of suffering in which she had wandered for two hours . The storm which had threatened since noon at length broke . Maud , who had scarcely heeded the first large drops , was forced to seek shelter when the clouds suddenly burst , and she took refuge at the right extremity of the colonnade of St. Peter 's . How had she gone that far ? She did not know herself precisely .