noon
`` If it had not been for Estralla I do n't know what would have happened to me last night , '' she thought . She wondered who had closed and fastened the front door , but dared not ask . Grace and Flora were to come early that afternoon , as soon after school as possible , and Flora had sent Sylvia a note that she would bring her lace-work and give her a lesson . By noon Sylvia felt rested , and was looking eagerly forward to her friends ' visit . She began to feel that she was a very fortunate little girl to have had the chance to do something that might help , as Mr. Doane had said , to give the black people their freedom . She only wished that she could tell her mother and father of the midnight journey . `` But I will ask Mrs. Carleton the next time I go to the fort to let me tell Mother , '' she resolved .