midday
Between the big laborer and ` that woman , ' who , since the epileptic fit , had again come into residence , there had passed nothing whatever that might not have been witnessed by Biddy and her two nurslings . For love is an emotion singularly dumb and undemonstrative in those who live the life of the fields ; passion a feeling severely beneath the thumb of a propriety born of the age-long absence of excitants , opportunities , and the aesthetic sense ; and those two waited , almost as a matter of course , for the marriage which was forbidden them in this parish . The most they did was to sit and look at one another . On the day of which Felix had seen the dawn at Hampstead , Sir Gerald 's agent tapped on the door of Tryst 's cottage , and was answered by Biddy , just in from school for the midday meal . `` Your father home , my dear ? '' `` No , sir ; Auntie 's in . '' `` Ask your auntie to come and speak to me . ''