noon
But when the dusk came down and the hylas peeped and the moist air touched her cheek , she would lose courage and her heart beat miserably in tune with the melancholy of spring . Still , on the whole , she was coming alive , and no one knew better than she that life , to be life , must be also a matter of pain . Tenney was leaving her to a great extent free . He was off now , doing his fencing , and he would even , returning at noon or night , forget to fall into the exaggerated limp he kept in reserve to remind her of his grievance . She had not seen Raven for a long time now , except as he and Nan went by , always looking at the house , once or twice halting a moment in the road , as if debating whether they should call . And Tira , when she saw them , from her hiding behind the curtain , would step to the door and fasten it against them . She would not answer , she told herself , if they knocked .