noon
I know it now , for see what such things lead to ! If you knew it , you have done me wrong . ' ` Dearest Dorothy ! ' exclaimed the youth , taking her hand again , of which this time she seemed hardly aware , ` did you not know from the very vanished first that I loved you with all my heart , and that to tell you so would have been to tell the sun that he shines warm at noon in midsummer ? And I did think you had a little -- something for me , Dorothy , your old playmate , that you did not give to every other acquaintance . Think of the houses we have built and the caves we have dug together -- of our rabbits , and urchins , and pigeons , and peacocks ! ' ` We are children no longer , ' returned Dorothy .