noon
She was so sincerely interested in everything and everybody , so glad to make friends , so fresh in her enthusiasm , and so attractive in all the healthy vigor of heart and body which a sturdy outdoor life had given her . The long hot summer was followed by a September so dry and dusty that the town lay parched in the sweltering heat . `` Does n't it make you feel like a wilted lettuce leaf ? '' Mary said to Sandford Berry one noon when they met at the boarding-house gate on their way in to dinner . `` I 've been down to Myrtle Street all morning , and some of those crowded rooms are so stifling that I do n't see how the inmates breathe . '' `` You ought to keep away from them , '' advised Sandford with a critical glance at her . `` They 're making you pale and thin .