morning,
noon
Then , afterward , they would stop at a confectioner 's , or at a cafe where there was dancing , for tea . They all danced in a perfection of slow graceful abandon , with youths who , it seemed to Linda , did nothing else . She accepted her part in this existence as inevitable , yet she was persistently aware of a feeling of strangeness , of essential difference from it . She was unable to lose a sense of looking on , as if morning , noon and night she were at another long play . Linda regarded it -- as she did so much else -- with neither enthusiasm nor marked annoyance . Probably it would continue without change through her entire life . All that was necessary , and easily obtained , was a sufficient amount of money .