noon
It was while she was swinging in this wild fashion that her brother drove by on his way home , without either suspecting how close they were to each other . Nellie displayed a natural , childish thoughtlessness by keeping up this sport for a half hour longer , when she came down to the ground , simply because she was tired of the amusement . Although out of sight of the road she managed to find her way back to it without trouble . With her lunch basket in hand , she continued in the direction of Dunbarton , taking several mouthfuls of the bread which had been left over at noon . In this aimless manner she strolled forward , stopping now and then to look at the squirrel or rabbit or the yellow-hued warbler , the noisy and swift-flying finch , the russet-coated thrush , or dark brown and mottled woodpecker , as his head rattled against the bark of the tree trunks , into which he bored in quest of worms . The first real surprise of the girl came when she reached the bridge . This proved that she was more than four miles from home , a distance much greater than she had suspected .