noon
Just at that moment the door opened , and Fred Brydon , having heard the last words , stood face to face with them both ! When Fred Brydon went to his work that morning , smarting from the angry words that Evelyn had hurled at him , everyone he met noticed how gloomy and burdened he seemed to be ; how totally unlike his former easy good - nature and genial cheerfulness was his strange air of reserve . They thought they knew the cause , and told each other so when he was not listening . When he came into the kitchen to wash himself at noon he heard one of the men say to another in an aside : `` He 'll be the last one to catch on . '' He paid no particular attention to the sentence at the time , but it stuck in his memory . The day was fine and dry , and the thresher was run at the top of its speed . One more day would finish the stacks , and as this was the last threshing to be done in the neighborhood , the greatest effort was put forth to finish it before the weather broke .