noon
`` You always did do the treating , '' she said absently . Blair laughed . The primitive emotions are always naked ; but how inevitably most of us try to cover them with the fig-leaf of trivial speech -- a laugh , perhaps , or a question about the weather ; somehow , in some way , the nakedness must be covered ! So now , Love and Hate , walking side by side in Mercer 's murky noon , were for the moment hidden from each other . Blair laughed , and said he would make her `` treat '' for a change , and she replied that she could n't afford it . At the toll-house he urged again , with gay obstinacy . `` Oh , come in !