noons
Good-by . When I come again , I will bring something to stimulate your appetite , which seems to require coaxing . '' She stooped and looked for a minute at the gaunt , white face of the half-famished infant pressed against the mother 's feverish breast , and an irresistible impulse impelled her to stroke back the rings of black hair that clustered on its sunken temples ; then , snatching her music and bundle , she hurried out of the close , untidy room , and , once more upon the grassy common , drew a long , deep breath of pure fresh air . Autumn , with orange dawns , and mellow , misty moons , when `` Sweet , calm days , in golden haze Melt down the amber sky , '' had died on bare brown stubble-fields and vine-veined hill-sides , purple with clustering grapes on leafless branches ; and wintry days had come , with sleety morns and chill , crisp noons , and scarlet sunset banners flouting the silver stars in western skies , where the shivering , gasping old year had woven , -- `` One strait gown of red Against the cold . '' None of the earlier years of Salome 's life seemed to her half so drearily long as the four monotonous months that followed Dr. Grey 's departure ; and , during the intervals between his brief letters to his sister , the orphan learned a deceptive quietude of manner , at variance with the tumultuous feelings that agitated her heart ; for painful suspense which is borne with clenched hands and firmly-set teeth is not the more patient because sternly mute . Which suffered least , Philoctetes howling on the shores of Lemnos , or the silent Trojan priest , writhing in a death-struggle with the serpent folds that crushed him before the altar of Neptune ? If any messages intended for Salome found their way across the ocean , they finally missed their destination , and reached the dead-letter office of Miss Jane 's vast and inviolate pocket ; and , while this apparent neglect piqued the girl 's vanity , the blessed assurance that the absent master was alive and well proved a sovereign balm for all the bleeding wounds of _ amour propre _ .