noon
It was such a strange and delightful thing to see smiles on her father 's face that she did not want anything to disturb them . She was quite as happy as Mr. Fern , now that this cloud had been lifted from her mind . The next day was a bright one for the wool merchant . By noon he had sent for Walker Boggs and astonished that gentleman by handing him a check in full for the entire amount of his indebtedness . In answer to a question he merely said he had been on the right side of the market . Mr. Fern also settled with his mortgage creditor , and went home at night happy that his head would again lie under a roof actually as well as in name his own . Notes which he had given came back to him soon after , and he burned them with a glee that was almost saturnine .