noon
How it leaped from among those dusky male voices ! How it played in and about and around and over them , like a goldfish darting among creek minnows , like a yellow butterfly soaring above a swarm of dark ones . `` Ah , '' said Mrs. Kohler softly , `` the dear man ; if he could hear her now ! '' MRS. KRONBORG had said that Thea was not to be disturbed on Sunday morning , and she slept until noon . When she came downstairs the family were just sitting down to dinner , Mr. Kronborg at one end of the long table , Mrs. Kronborg at the other . Anna , stiff and ceremonious , in her summer silk , sat at her father 's right , and the boys were strung along on either side of the table . There was a place left for Thea between her mother and Thor .