noon
At eight o'clock they ate breakfast by lamplight . Uncle Rufus did not get downstairs early , as he usually did , and when Tess ran up to call him , she found the old man groaning in his bed , and unable to rise . `` I done got de mis ` ry in my back , chile , '' he said , feebly . `` Don ' yo ' worry ` bout me none ; I 'll be cropin ' down erbout noon . '' But Mrs. MacCall would not hear to his moving . There was a small cylinder stove in his room -LRB- it was in the cold wing of the house -RRB- and she carried up kindling and a pail of coal and made a fire for him . Then Tess and Dot carried up his hot breakfast on one of the best trays , with a nice white napkin laid over it .