noon
`` Maybe ` twill come again , '' she thought , as she reached the little oak tree and sat down where she had slept the day before . `` Perhaps if I sit very still it will come out again . I 'm sure 'T is not an unfriendly beast . '' The little girl sat very still ; she did not feel sleepy or tired , and her dark eyes scanned the marsh hopefully , but as the summer morning drifted toward noon she began to realize that her watch was in vain . `` I s ` pose Jimmie Starkweather was right , and the gray wolf is miles away , '' she thought , as she decided that she must leave the shadow of the oak and hurry toward home so that Aunt Martha would not be anxious about her . `` I wish the wolf knew I liked him , '' the little girl said aloud , as she turned her face toward home . `` I would not chase him away from the spring , and I would not want his gray fur for a coat , '' and Anne 's face was very sober , as she sent a lingering look along the thick-growing woods that bordered the marsh .