midday
John wrote his answer upstairs , taking a good deal of time and pains to give it an air of dash and haste , and accepting , with cordial thanks , Mr. and Mrs. Fair 's cordial invitation to go with them -LRB- and Miss Garnet , writing at their request -RRB- next day to church . Which in its right time he did . On his way back to the hotel with Miss Garnet after service , John was nothing less than pained -- though he took care not to let her know it -- to find how far astray she was as to some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity . For fear she might find out his distress , he took his midday meal alone . And indeed , Miss Garnet may have had her suspicions , for over their ice-cream and coffee she said amusedly to Mrs. Fair , and evidently in reference to him , `` I am afraid it was only the slightness of our acquaintance that kept him from being pos-i-tive-ly pet-u-lent . '' She seemed amused , I say , but an hour or so later , in her own room , she called herself a goose and somebody else another , and glancing at the mirror , caught two tears attempting to escape . She drove them back with a vigorous stamp of the foot and proceeded to dress for a cold afternoon walk among the quieted wonders of a resting city , without the Fairs , but not wholly alone .