noon
Then , when they had promised the youth that he should be spared all further ill - usage , he opened the lining of his garment and showed us a gem which his mother had privily hung about his neck , and which was a lump or tablet of precious sky-blue turkis-stone , as large as a great plum , whereon was some charm inscribed in strange , outlandish signs which the Jewish Rabbi Hillel , when he saw it , declared to be Arabic letters . The bear-leader had called the lad Beppo ; but his real name was a long one and hard to utter , out of which my forest uncle picked up two syllables for a name he could speak with ease , calling him Akusch . With Cousin Maud 's assent the black youth was attached to my service as Squire , inasmuch as it was I who at first had `` dubbed him knight ; '' and when I gave him to understand this he could not contain himself for joy , and from that hour he ever proved my most ready servant , ever alert and thankful ; and the little benevolence it was in my power to shew the poor lad bore fruit more than a thousand fold in after times , to me and mine . After noon that same day Ann confessed to me that she had it in her mind to quit the lodge that very evening , journeying home with Master Ulsenius ; and when she withstood all my entreaties she told Cousin Maud likewise that she had indeed already left her own kin too long without her succor . Aunt Jacoba was in her chimney corner , and how she took this sudden purpose on Ann 's part , may be imagined . It was so gloomy a day that there was scarce a change when dusk fell . Grey wreaths of cloud hung over the tree-tops , and fine rain dripped with a soft , steady patter , as though it would never cease ; nor was there another sound , inasmuch as neither horn , nor watchman 's cry , nor bell might break the silence , for the sake of the wounded men ; nay , even the hounds , meseemed , understood that the daily course of life was out of gear .