noon
I made up my mind that I would go to the schoolhouse just before four and surprise Virginia , and hoped it would be a little stormy so I could have an excuse to take her home . I need not have worried about the storm . It came . At noon the northwestern sky , a third of the way to a point overhead , was of an indigo-blue color ; but it still seemed to be clear sky -- though I looked at it with suspicion , it was such an unusual thing for January . As I stood gazing at it , Narcisse Lacroix , Pierre 's twelve-year-old boy , came by with his little sister . I asked him if school was out , and he said the teacher had sent them home because there was no more fuel for the stove ; but it was so warm that the teacher was going to stay and sweep out , and write up her register . As the children went out of sight , a strange and awful change came over the face of nature .