noon
Affairs the next morning turned out quite as Sylvia would have had them . At breakfast she discovered that Judge Trent and Dunham had departed early on a fishing expedition . Edna was absorbed with her carpenters and their alterations , and Sylvia found no difficulty in escaping unquestioned to the woods , the pillow slip hanging over her arm . This time when she returned at noon there was no one in sight , and she laid down bottle and bag in a corner of the piazza while she went to the well for a drink . Returning , she again took the flat , stiff pillow slip and went upstairs with it . The men came home to dinner a little late . They brought no treasures back save those of John 's imagination ; and he regaled the company during the meal with such accounts of the morning 's experiences as caused Miss Martha to entertain fears concerning his ultimate destination .