noon
Bear Hill did `` come off , '' however . Early on the morning of Thursday , Josiah might be seen loading up the little green waggon with tin kettles and baskets , both empty and full . Ears of corn went in too , for the `` idee '' had struck Mrs. Starling favourably , and an iron pot found its way into one corner . Breakfast was despatched in haste ; the house locked up and the key put under the door-stone for Josiah to find at noon ; and the two ladies mounted and drove away while the morning light was yet fresh and cool , and the shadows of the trees lay long in the meadow . August mornings and evenings were seldom hotter than was agreeable in Pleasant Valley . For some miles the road lay through the region so denominated . Then it entered the hills , and soon the way led over them , up and down steep ascents and pitches , with a green woodland on each side , and often a look-out over some little meadow valley of level fields and cultivation bordered and encircled by more hills .