noon
It rose above mine in proportion to the passion he must have felt for her , when she was a girl that a man could take for a wife . I pitied him ; and I did not envy Buck Gowdy , if it chanced that they should come together while Magnus 's white-hot anger was burning ; but I rather hoped they would meet . I did not believe that in any just court Magnus would be punished if he supplied the lack in the law . When I turned out at noon , I saw Magnus 's team , and a horse hitched to a buggy tied to my corn-crib ; and when I went into the house , I half expected to find Jim Boyd , the sheriff , there to arrest Magnus Thorkelson for murder , at the bedside of Magnus 's lady-love . I could imagine how N. V. Creede , whom I had already resolved I would retain to defend Magnus , would thrill the jury in his closing speech for the prisoner as the bar . What I found was Elder Thorndyke and grandma and the widow , all standing by Rowena 's bed . The widow was holding the baby in her arms , but as I came in she laid it in a chair and covered it up , as much as to indicate that on this occasion the less seen of the infant the better .