noon
`` Teddy dear , if you can only tame down this rashness of yours , and yet be the same loyal girl you are now , your womanhood will be very big and beautiful . But remember this , dear , in all this wilful , hasty end of the century , a true woman must be as gentle as she is brave , as thoughtful as she is loving . '' `` But I 'm glad it 's all over , '' Theodora said contentedly , the next day . She and Billy sat on the piazza , in the golden noon of an early October day . Hope was in the hammock , with Allyn beside her and Archie on the floor at her feet , while Hubert sat on the rail facing them all . Theodora had been entertaining them with an account of her journey , and she ended her story with these words . `` It has been a terrible month , '' Hope said thoughtfully .