noon
But at the sight of Camilla she felt bursting up through this confusion of mind , and fiercely attacking her instinct of self-preservation , a new force , unsuspected , terribly alive -- sympathy with Camilla -- Camilla , with her dog-like , timid , loving eyes -- Camilla , who had done nothing to deserve unhappiness except to be born -- Camilla , always uneasy with tragic consciousness of the sword over her head , and now smiling brightly with tragic unconsciousness that it was about to fall . Sylvia 's heart swelled almost unendurably . She was feeling , for the first time in her life consciously , the two natures under her skin , and this , their first open struggle for the mastery of her , was like a knife in her side . She sat during the morning session , her eyes on the clock , fearing miserably the moment of dismissal at noon , when she must take some action -- she who only longed to run away from discord and dwell in peace . Her mind swung , pendulum-like , from one extreme of feeling to another . Every time that Camilla smiled at her across the heads of the other children , sullenly oblivious of their former favorite , Sylvia turned sick with shame and pity . But when her eyes rested on the hard , hostile faces which made up her world , the world she had to live in , the world which had been so full of sweet and innocent happiness for her , the world which would now be ranged with her or against her according to her decision at noon , she was overcome by a panic at the very idea of throwing her single self against this many-headed tyrant .