noon
Sick folks know how to be kind to sick folks , I tell you . '' The dawn began to show blue behind the frost ferns on the window and the lamps overhead looked pale and sickly in the grey light . `` Annie had her operation on Monday , '' she went on after a long pause . `` She was lookin ' every day for a letter from Dave , and when the doctor told her they would operate on her on Monday morning early , she asked him if he would mind putting it off until noon . She thought there would be a letter from Dave , for sure , on that morning 's mail . The doctor was very kind to her -- they understand a lot , them Mayos -- and he did put it off . In the ward with Annie there was a little woman from Saskatchewan , that was a very bad case .