noon
`` Oh , Constance , Constance , '' he cried aloud , forgetting that the dead can not hear . `` You never failed me ! Forgive me if you can . '' The Song of the Pines Upon the couch in the sitting-room , though it was not yet noon , Miss Mattie slept peacefully . She had the repose , not merely of one dead , but of one who had been dead long and was very weary at the time of dying . As Doctor Conrad had expected , her back was entirely well the morning following his visit , and when she awoke , free from pain , she had dinned his praises into Roger 's ears until that long-suffering young man was well-nigh fatigued . The subject was not exhausted , however , even though Roger was .