About noon
She merely shook her head . ` Then write to-day . ' So saying , he tottered down the steps with his stick and got into the fly . About noon she did get her paper and ink , and very slowly wrote her letter . Though her heart was , in truth , yearning towards her daughter , -- though at that moment she could have made any possible sacrifice for her child had her child been apart from the man she hated , -- she could not in her sullenness force her words into a form of affection . ` DEAR HESTER , ' she said . ` Of course I shall be glad to see you and your boy .