noon
So the winter wore away , and the snow melted and the crocuses peeped up again . The robins returned , and Ben understood at last why their insistent , joyous cry was always of _ Geraldine , Geraldine , Geraldine _ ! The orchard was under solicitous surveillance this spring , and though it takes the watched pot so long to boil , at last the rosy clouds drifting in the sky seemed to catch in the apple boughs and rest there , and then the wedding day was set . The spacious rooms of the old house were cleared for dancing , for the ceremony was to take place out under the trees at noon . Miss Upton had a new black silk dress given her by the bridegroom with a note over which she wept , for it acknowledged so affectionately all that he owed to his bride 's good fairy from the day when she so effectively waved her umbrella wand in the city . One of her gowns was made over for Mrs. Whipp , who on the great day stood with the maids and watched the wedding party as it filed out over the lawn to the rosy bower of the orchard . The six bridesmaids wore pale-green and white , and , as Miss Upton viewed with satisfaction , `` droopy hats . ''