noon
But he was the same simple-hearted Gavin , reticent and unassuming and in his heart he almost could wish , except for the joy it gave his Aunties , that he had never heard of the Victoria Cross . He had only done his duty , he repeated over and over , and all the men at the Front were doing that . And so he lay back among the cushions , surrounded by flowers , his one hand in Auntie Elspie 's , and looked with shining eyes , not at the beautiful familiar bits of landscape which were passing , and to which the Aunties were calling his attention , but at the gleam of a golden-brown head that was occasionally visible from John Lindsay 's buggy . Marmaduke pointed out this and that historical landmark ; the hill where they used to go coasting in winter ; the old burnt stump up which Gavin had climbed to get the hawk 's nest one day at recess ; the hole below the mill where the teacher forbade them to swim and into which they all plunged at noon quite regularly , and Gavin smiled and nodded , and saw nothing but the gleam of gold ahead . Whatever had been wrong with the reception and the procession , no fault could be found with the supper . It had been set outdoors on the church lawn , and the tables were so ladened with chicken and ham and jellies and salads and cake and pie , that instinctively the men took off their coats before sitting down to the attack . And after everything was eaten nobody seemed able either to hear or make a speech .