minutes after noon
But not while she lived could she ever learn to be hard . She would do what she must -- she was no longer a fool . But she could not help sighing and crying a little as she did it . It was not many minutes after noon when Spenser came . He looked so sheepish and uncomfortable that Susan thought Constance had told him . But his opening sentence of apology was : `` I took too many nightcaps and Fitz had to lug me home with him . '' `` Really ? ''