midday
With relief she reached the road at length , and commenced the last stage of the return journey . The heat was terrific . She was intensely weary , and beginning to be footsore . At a turn in the road she paused a moment , looking back at the pine-clad hill from which she had come ; and as she did so , distinct , though far away behind her , there floated through the midday silence the curious note of a jay . It sounded to her bewildered senses like a cracked , discordant laugh . On the following afternoon Major Fletcher called , but he was not admitted . Beryl was receiving no one that day , and sent him an uncompromising message to that effect .