noon
`` Cousin Betsey will manage better , '' said Clifton . They went to the Hill at the time appointed , and the visit , and some others that they made , were so far successful that the minister took real pleasure in them , and that was more than could be said of any visit he had made before . Miss Betsey did not put him through his catechism in Clifton 's presence ; that ceremony was reserved for a future occasion . She was rather stiff and formal in her reception of them , but she thawed out and consented to be pleased and interested before the after noon was over . She smiled and assented with sufficient graciousness when Clifton not only bespoke Ben 's company , on an expedition with gun and rod , which he and Mr Maxwell were going to make further down the river , but he invited himself and the minister to tea on their way home . `` For you know , Cousin Betsey , that Ben and I wo n't be very likely to get into mischief in the minister 's company , and you ca n't object to our going this time . '' `` If anybody does n't object to the minister 's going in your company .