noon
Naturally Elnora hushed , but she thought of nothing else after she had finished her lessons . At last there came a day when for some reason the leader of the orchestra left his violin on the grand piano . That morning Elnora made her first mistake in algebra . At noon , as soon as the building was empty , she slipped into the auditorium , found the side door which led to the stage , and going through the musicians ' entrance she took the violin . She carried it back into the little side room where the orchestra assembled , closed all the doors , opened the case and lifted out the instrument . She laid it on her breast , dropped her chin on it and drew the bow softly across the strings . One after another she tested the open notes .