midday
It was not fit for her to stand talking to a fellow like him . There is a splendid friend and ally for every one who has thin , ragged clothes , and that is the sun . He distributes overcoats in the shape of warm , sunny walls , brings life and movement with him , and then there need no longer be any uncertainty about a midday-meal . Nikolai had had work on the quay the whole morning , and was now standing , in the midday rest , baking himself against the sunny wall , and yawning . He stopped in the middle of a yawn . That slight figure in the faded cotton dress , that was running with her body bent forwards , and a handkerchief over the little , dark head , to keep off the sun -- it was no other than Silla ! She was darting along among the baskets and traffic on the fish-quay ; there was a searching haste in her like that of a frightened corn-crake , that turns its head now to one side now to the other as it runs .