noon
he exclaimed , memories reviving of his boyhood cruises . `` It was in ninety-one when I was here last . I never expected to put in here again . '' The streets were empty , a noon stillness brooding in them . Margaret slipped her hand into his , the joy , the freedom , the sense of the open road sweeping over her afresh . The world was already fading behind them ... . They came out upon the wharves , and threaded their way among the sagging gray buildings that smelt of salt fish , until the harbor water lapped at the piles beneath their feet .