noon
`` I can at least write to Rex at once , '' she thought , `` and explain the whole matter to him . '' Daisy smiled as she thought Rex would be sure to follow on the very next train . John Brooks watched the smile and the flush of the rosy face , and believed Daisy was beginning to feel more reconciled about going to school . `` I hope we will get there by noon , '' said John , anxiously , taking the seat beside her on the crowded train . `` If we missed the train at the cross-roads it would be a serious calamity . I should be obliged to send you on alone ; for I _ must _ get to New York by night , as I have some very important business to transact for the plantation which must be attended to at once . '' `` Alone ! ''