noon
cried her horrified mother . * * * * * Doggie kept the letter unopened in his tunic pocket until he could find solitude in which to read it . After morning parade he wandered to the deserted trench at the end of the camp , where the stuffed sacks , representing German defenders , were hung for bayonet practice . It was a noon of grey mist through which the alignments of huts and tents were barely visible . Instinctively avoiding the wet earth of the parados , he went round , and , tired after the recent spell of physical drill , sat down on the equally wet sandbags of the model parapet , a pathetic , lonely little khaki figure isolated for the moment by the kindly mist from an uncomprehending world . He read Peggy 's letter several times . He recognized her goodness , her loyalty .