about noon
At gray dawn Athens was awake and watching . Men forgot to eat , forgot to drink . One food would have contented -- news ! * * * * * * * It was about noon -- `` the end of market time , '' had there been any market then at Athens -- when Hermione knew by instinct that news had come from the battle and that it was evil . She and her mother had sat since dawn by the upper window , craning forth their heads up the street toward the Agora , where they knew all couriers must hasten . Along the street in all the houses other women were peering forth also . When little Phœnix cried in his cradle , his mother for the first time in his life almost angrily bade him be silent .