noon
`` I was going to , '' admitted Sunny Boy apologetically . `` But when I was hunting for the way into the barn , I found the ducks . Let 's go and tell Grandma we saw 'em . '' It was noon by this time , so the Hatch children went home and Sunny Boy and Jimmie walked together to the house . It had stopped raining , and the sun felt warm and delightful . `` Of course you may have a duck , '' said Grandma , when Sunny Boy told her of his find . `` That foolish old mother duck marched off with her children one morning and I could n't for the life of me discover where she had gone .