noon
Among those friendly and unpretending and well-acquainted people any one 's affairs were every one 's affairs -- why make a secret of what was , after all , only the routine of human life the world over and the ages through ? Thus Otto had the lively but tactful sympathy of the whole community . He became less gloomy under the warmth of this succession of friendly faces and friendly inquiries . But as trade slackened , toward noon , he had more leisure to think , and the throbbing ache returned to his heavy heart . All the time pictures of her were passing before his eyes . He had known her so long and she had become such an intimate part of his daily life , so interwoven with it , that he could not look at present , past or future without seeing her . Why , he had known her since she was a baby .