twelve o'clock
From which Verena knew that she believed her . The hour that Olive proposed to Mrs. Burrage , in a note sent early the next morning , for the interview to which she consented to lend herself , was the stroke of noon ; this period of the day being chosen in consequence of a prevision of many subsequent calls upon her time . She remarked in her note that she did not wish any carriage to be sent for her , and she surged and swayed up the Fifth Avenue on one of the convulsive , clattering omnibuses which circulate in that thoroughfare . One of her reasons for mentioning twelve o'clock had been that she knew Basil Ransom was to call at Tenth Street at eleven , and -LRB- as she supposed he did n't intend to stay all day -RRB- this would give her time to see him come and go . It had been tacitly agreed between them , the night before , that Verena was quite firm enough in her faith to submit to his visit , and that such a course would be much more dignified than dodging it . This understanding passed from one to the other during that dumb embrace which I have described as taking place before they separated for the night . Shortly before noon , Olive , passing out of the house , looked into the big , sunny double parlour , where , in the morning , with all the husbands absent for the day and all the wives and spinsters launched upon the town , a young man desiring to hold a debate with a young lady might enjoy every advantage in the way of a clear field .