midday
she ejaculated , upon the threshold `` you did not tell me that you were confined to your bed ! '' `` I ought not to be ! '' The rebellious pout and tone were Rosa 's , as were also the black eyes -- unnaturally large and bright though they were -- but the pretty lips were wan , and strained by lines of pain ; the pomegranate flush was no longer variable , and was nestled in hollows , and the hands were wasted to translucency . `` I am quite strong enough to be up , and would be , if my tyrannical doctors and their tractable tool , my lord and master , had not decreed that I shall lie here until midday , if I am very obedient ; eat my meals ; take their poisonous medicines , and abstain from coughing . If I offend in any of these particulars I am not to rise until three o'clock -- when they are in an especially glum humor -- not at all that day . But now you are here , we shall combat them valorously . Dear Auntie ! ''