noon
The woman 's face caught a gleam from the coming sunlight . `` Hope on ! Hope on ! '' It would yet be possible to get all the clothes out before noon . If she had looked into her neighbor 's back garden just then she would have seen what the singer did . A little brown bird was vainly pecking away at a crust lying under a tree . Then the singer came , with soft , quick steps , and broke the crust into crumbs .