noon
Well , this convent was a source of much interest and not a little awe to the children . They were always curious to know what was going on behind those high brick walls . Nothing in the shape of a man , except the priests , was ever allowed inside the convent . You can judge , then , of the flutter it caused when one day at noon , as the children from their windows opposite were watching the penitents playing in the garden in their blue dresses and white caps , they saw a little man go boldly in their midst and with a shovel begin turning up the soil . To be sure he was old and ugly ; his back was bent like a hoop , and his long nose almost touched his toes as he leaned over his shovel -- but all the same he was a man . `` I wonder who on earth he can be ! '' said Fanny Morton , and the nurse who was peering over her head thoughtlessly replied : `` One of Satan 's own imps . ''