noon
In each case she smiled gravely and required the cake to be described . The meaning of the pilgrimage of enquiry came to Miriam when Fraulein reached Gertrude and beamed affectionately in response to her careless `` Schokolade und ein Biskuit . '' Miriam and the Bergmanns were alone in their excesses . Even walks were incalculable excepting on Saturdays , when at noon Anna turned out the schoolrooms . Then -- unless to Miriam 's great satisfaction it rained and they had a little festival shut in in holiday mood in the saal , the girls playing and singing , Anna loudly obliterating the week-days next door and the secure harbour of Sunday ahead -- they went methodically out and promenaded the streets of Hanover for an hour . These Saturday walks were a recurring humiliation . If they had occurred daily , some crisis , she felt sure would have arisen for her .