nearly noon
`` Hush , Matty -- do n't , '' and the disturbed doctor shook her very gently ; `` it will soon be daylight , and 't is a max -- '' Here he stopped , for he had no maxim suited to that occasion ; and , in a most unenviable frame of mind , he frowned at the crying Maude , and tried to soothe his weeping wife , until at last , as the face of the latter was covered , and the former grew more noisy and unmanageable , he administered a fatherly rebuke in the shape of a boxed ear , which had no other effect than the eliciting from the child the outcry , `` Let me be , old doctor , you ! '' if , indeed , we except the long scratch made upon his hand by the little sharp nail of his stepdaughter . At that moment Matty lifted up her head , but as Maude was no tale-bearer , and the doctor hardly dared to tell her that he had thus early taken upon himself the government of her child , she never knew exactly what it was which made Maude 's ear so red or her liege lord 's face so dark . It was nearly noon when they arrived at Canandaigua , where the first object which caught Mrs. Kennedy 's eye was an old-fashioned carryall , which her husband honored with the appellation of carriage , said carriage being drawn by two farm-horses , which looked as if oats and corn were to them luxuries unknown . `` I must have a cup of tea , '' said Mrs. Kennedy , as she saw the black man , John , arranging the baggage upon the rack of the carryall , and heard her husband bid him hurry , as there was no time to lose . `` I must have a cup of tea , my head is aching dreadfully , '' and her white lips quivered , while the tears rolled down her cheeks . `` Certainly , certainly , '' answered the doctor , who was in unusually good spirits , having just heard from an acquaintance whom he chanced to meet that a lawsuit which had long been pending was decided in his favor , and that the house and lot of a widow would probably come into his possession .