twelve o'clock
As she helped ` Stashie sort the dingy curtains , she was saying over and over to herself that she was responsible , responsible as much as for Ariadne 's health . This conception so possessed her now that she felt herself able to accomplish anything , even the miracle needed . To have achieved this state of passionate resolution gave her for a moment the sense of having started upon the straight road to escape from her nightmare ; and for the first time since the door had slammed behind Paul she drew a long breath and was able to give more than a blind gaze to the world about her . She noticed that , though it was after twelve o'clock , Ariadne had not been told to come to luncheon . When the little girl came running at her mother 's call , her vivid face flushed with happy play , Lydia knew a throb of that exquisite , unreasoning parent 's joy , lying too near the very springs of life for any sickness of the spirit to affect it . Like everything else , however , the touch of the child 's tight-clinging arms about her neck brought her back to her preoccupation . Ariadne must not be allowed to grow up to such a regret as she felt , that she had never known her father .