noon
Yet also I say that we of the Tofts may well be eager to show this jewel to our kindred , and especially to our father and mother of the Tofts ; so to-morrow we will set about the business of carrying her thither , will she , nill she . '' And therewith she threw her arms about Goldilind , and clipped her and kissed her ; and Goldilind reddened for pleasure and for joy that she was so sore prized by them all . Next morning , while the day was yet young , they rode together , all of them , the nighest way to the Tofts , for they knew the wood right well . Again they slept one night under the bare heavens , and , rising betimes on the morrow , came out under the Tofts some four hours after high noon , on as fair and calm a day of early summer as ever was seen . They rode up straight to the door of the great hall , and found but few folk about , and those mostly women and children ; Jack was ridden abroad , they said , but they looked to see him back to supper , him and his sons , for he was no great way gone . Meantime , when they got off their horses , the women and children thronged round about them ; and the children especially about Christopher , whom they loved much . The maidens , also , would not have him pass into the hall unkissed , though presently , after their faces had felt his lips , they fell a-staring and wondering at Goldilind , and when Christopher took her by the hand and gave her welcome to the House of the Tofts , and they saw that she was his , they grew to be somewhat afraid , or it might be shy , both of her and of him .