noon
I resolved to keep my wide brim well down over my face , seeing in a mirror how too much like my own self I had become . I settled my score and went out , passing down the river-front . Here I counted and took careful note of the war-ships anchored all the way along the Delaware . At noon I bought an `` Observer , '' and learned that Mr. Howe had lost a spaniel dog , and that there was to be a great festival that night in honour of Sir William Howe 's departure for England . Would Darthea be there ? I put aside the temptation to see that face again , and set about learning what forts were on the neck of land to south , where the two rivers , coming together at an angle , make what we call the Neck . It was a wide lowland then , but partly diked and crossed by many ditches ; a marshy country much like a bit of Holland , with here and there windmills to complete the resemblance .