noon
`` Anybody as cute as you are , _ knows . _ '' With that she was gone . All the morning the girl busied herself within doors , exchanging one duty for another . Toward noon , however , she made an excursion to the garden for lettuce and radishes . Her pathway lay close to the wall , and on her return to the house she was amazed to see lying on the topmost stone of the ruined heap a mammoth bunch of sweet peas . There was no mistaking the fact that the flowers were intended for her , for her name had been hastily scrawled on a bit of crumpled paper and placed beside them . Nothing could have surprised her more than to stumble upon this offering .