noon
But when the Doctor came up from the chaplain 's cottage the following morning , he told her that it had grown so much colder during the night that he really feared to take her with him . `` It is ten below zero , and your poor little nose would be frozen during the long drive from the station to Mr. Donnelly 's . I shall be back early . '' At noon , however , Sister Madeline came to tell Mary that her uncle had just telephoned to say that Mr. Donnelly was far worse than he had expected to find him , and that they were preparing to take him to a hospital in the city . `` And -- and wo n't Uncle come back here this evening , Aunt Mary ? '' `` He wishes you to meet the four o'clock train and return home with him . Several things make it impossible for him to stop off here again .