noon before
He felt that , pacing up and down together , the brother and sister must come within ten feet of his chair before they turned back , and he longed to look at her , yet could not . Sturgis had said he would return in a few minutes , and he had n't come . Stuyvesant felt aggrieved . It would be high noon before many minutes . Already the ship officers were on the bridge ready to `` take the sun , '' and mess-call for the men was sounding on the lower decks . He would give a fortune , thought he , to feel once more that cool , soft , slender little hand on his forehead . There were other hands , some that were certainly whiter than Miss Ray 's , and probably quite as soft and cool , hands that before the report of his slur upon the Red Cross would gladly have ministered to him , but he shrank from thought of any touch but one .