noon
... `` Pray come in , Mr. White , '' interrupted Mercy . `` It is not really late , only we keep such absurdly early hours , and are so quiet , as we know nobody here , that a knock at the door in the evening makes us all jump . Pray come in , '' and she threw open the door into the sitting-room , where the lamps had already been put out , and the light of a blazing hickory log made long flickering shadows on the crimson carpet . In this dancing light , the room looked still more like a grove than it had to Marty at high noon . Stephen 's eyes fastened hungrily on the sight . `` Your room is almost too much to resist , '' he said ; `` but I will not come in now . I did not know it was so late .