NOON
It would be an hour at least before time to start to church , when Ariel expected him ; he stared absently up the street , then down , and , after that , began slowly to walk in the latter direction , with no very active consciousness , or care , of where he went . He had fallen into a profound reverie , so deep that when he had crossed the bridge and turned into a dusty road which ran along the river-bank , he stopped mechanically beside the trunk of a fallen sycamore , and , lifting his head , for the first time since he had set out , looked about him with a melancholy perplexity , a little surprised to find himself there . For this was the spot where he had first seen the new Ariel , and on that fallen sycamore they had sat together . `` REMEMBER , ACROSS MAIN STREET BRIDGE AT NOON ! '' And Joe 's cheeks burned , as he recalled why he had not understood the clear voice that had haunted him . But that shame had fallen from him ; she had changed all that , as she had changed so many things . He sank down in the long grass , with his back against the log , and stared out over the fields of tall corn , shaking in a steady wind all the way to the horizon .