noon
On this point no one could advise her , not even Perpetua ; her own mother could hardly have understood all her feelings on such an occasion . She scarcely knew herself indeed ; for hitherto she had never failed , even in the most difficult cases , to know at once and without long reflection , what to do and to leave undone , what under special circumstances was right or wrong . But now she felt herself a yielding reed , a leaf tossed hither and thither ; and every time she set her teeth and clenched her hands , determined to think calmly and to reason out the `` for '' and `` against , '' her mind wandered away again , while the memory of her dream , of Orion as he stood by his father 's grave -- of Katharina 's tale of `` the other , '' and the fearful punishment which he had to suffer , nay indeed , certainly had suffered -- came and went in her mind like the flocks of birds over the Nile , whose dipping and soaring had often passed like a fluttering veil between her eye and some object on the further shore . It was three hours past noon , and she had returned to the sick-room , when she thought that she heard hoofs in the garden and hurried to the window once more . Her heart had not beat more wildly when the dog had flown at her and Hiram that fateful night , than it did now as she hearkened to the approach of a horseman , still hidden from her gaze by the shrubs . It must be Orion -- but why did he not dismount ? No , it could not be he ; his tall figure would have overtopped the shrubbery which was of low growth .