noon
After awhile he took another little picture of her , this one taken under a taut parasol in bright sunlight , and fitted it over the opposite faces ; and then when he had studied one picture he could turn to the other , and perhaps go back to the first before his eyes were satisfied . And if during the day some thought brought her suddenly to mind , he would stop short in whatever he was doing , and remember her little timid upglancing look as she hazarded , at breakfast , some question about his work , or remember her enthusiasm , on a country tramp , for the chance meal at some wayside restaurant , and sheer love of her would overwhelm him , and he would find his eyes brimming again . So the summer fled , and before she fairly realized it Norma saw the leaves colouring behind the little house like a wall of fire , and rustled them with her feet when she tramped with Wolf 's big collie into the woods . The air grew clearer and thinner , sunset came too soon , and a delicate beading of dew loitered on the shady side of the house until almost noon . One October day , when she had been six months a wife , Norma made her first call upon Annie von Behrens . Alice she had seen several times , when she had stopped in , late in the summer mornings , to entertain the invalid with her first adventures in housekeeping , and chat with Miss Slater . But Chris she had quite deliberately avoided .