noon
Beautiful Katrinka ! Flushed with youth and health , all life and mirth and motion , what wonder thine image , ever floating in advance , sped through one boy 's dreams that night ! What wonder that it seemed his darkest hour when , years afterward , thy presence floated away from him forever . Hans and Gretel Find a Friend At noon our young friends poured forth from the schoolhouse , intent upon having an hour 's practice upon the canal . They had skated but a few moments when Carl Schummel said mockingly to Hilda , `` There 's a pretty pair just coming upon the ice ! The little ragpickers ! Their skates must have been a present from the king direct . ''