noon
Precocious mentally , a child physically . I 'll look out for her to-day . '' Miss Towne had the reputation of an unfeeling disciplinarian among the pupils , but Lydia did not know this . She only knew that by some miracle of kindness she came to understand the classroom system of recitations , that she was introduced to different teachers , that she learned how to decipher the hours of her recitations from the complicated chart on the Assembly room blackboard , and that at noon she started for home with a list of textbooks to be purchased , and a perfectly clear idea of what to do when she returned on the morrow . The streets were full of children of all ages flocking toward the book stores . Lydia walked along slowly , thinking deeply . She knew that her list of books came to something over five dollars .