noon
`` Nothing I 'm likely to get , '' replied Joel and turned his face to the wall . Then , too , the house was quiet . Occasionally the baby 's fretful voice reached his ears or Celia 's bubbling , irrepressible laughter ; but the tumult on which he had counted confidently as a factor in his discomfort was lacking . At noon , indeed , the older children came in with a shout , brimful of communications too important to wait , so that the three all talked at once , each voice upraised in a laudable endeavor to drown out the other two . But just as Joel was telling himself that it was intolerable , enough to drive a man out of his seven senses , the announcement of dinner produced an agreeable lull in the uproar . And when the baby was taken upstairs for its nap and Celia cautioned to discretion , the quiet became even more profound . Joel found it necessary to prod his sense of grievance to keep it in action .