midday
He had often wondered at Ben Weatherstaff . Where gardening is done all sorts of delightful things to eat are turned up with the soil . Now here was this new kind of creature who was not half Ben 's size and yet had had the sense to come into his garden and begin at once . Mistress Mary worked in her garden until it was time to go to her midday dinner . In fact , she was rather late in remembering , and when she put on her coat and hat , and picked up her skipping-rope , she could not believe that she had been working two or three hours . She had been actually happy all the time ; and dozens and dozens of the tiny , pale green points were to be seen in cleared places , looking twice as cheerful as they had looked before when the grass and weeds had been smothering them . `` I shall come back this afternoon , '' she said , looking all round at her new kingdom , and speaking to the trees and the rose-bushes as if they heard her .