noon
` Twa 'n' t like Betsey not to leave us any word , '' said the other old friend , with more resentment than melancholy . They sat together almost in silence that morning in the shed chamber . Mrs. Dow was sorting and cutting rags , and Peggy braided them into long ropes , to be made into mats at a later date . If they had only known where Betsey Lane had gone , they might have talked about it until dinner-time at noon ; but failing this new subject , they could take no interest in any of their old ones . Out in the field the corn was well up , and the men were hoeing . It was a hot morning in the shed chamber , and the woolen rags were dusty and hot to handle . Byfleet people knew each other well , and when this mysteriously absent person did not return to the town-farm at the end of a week , public interest became much excited ; and presently it was ascertained that Betsey Lane was neither making a visit to her friends the Deckers on Birch Hill , nor to any nearer acquaintances ; in fact , she had disappeared altogether from her wonted haunts .