noon
he echoed , aghast . `` Oh , I think this is punishment , '' Cherry continued , in the same lifeless , weary tone . There was a silence . The rain dripped and dripped from the redwoods , the room in which they stood was in twilight , even at noon . Peter could think of nothing to say . About two weeks after the accident there was a change in the tone of the physicians who had been giving almost all their time to Martin 's case . There was no visible change in Martin , but that fact in itself was so surprising that it was construed into a definite hope that he would live .