nearly noon
When we arrived there , Mrs. Canby had over five minutes to spare , and this time was spent in buying a ticket and giving me final instructions . At length the train came along and she was off . I waited a few moments longer and then drove away . I had several purchases to make in the village -- a pruning-knife , a bag of feed , and some groceries , and these took some time to buy , so it was nearly noon when I started home . Several times I imagined that a couple of the village young men noticed me very closely , but I paid no attention and went on my way , never dreaming of what was in store for me . The road to the widow 's house ran for half a mile or more through a heavy belt of timber land . We were jogging along at a fair pace , and I was looking over a newspaper I had picked up on the station platform .