midday
At any rate , my present job is trying to keep from bursting with happiness . '' `` Elsie , I rather want to hear that Elsie-Marley-Honey-thing again , '' remarked Miss Pritchard . `` Would you mind doing it now ? '' The two sat alone on the veranda of the hotel at an hour when other guests were resting after the midday meal . Before them , beyond a stretch of mosslike lawn and a broad sandy beach , rolled the sea , brilliantly blue , with the waves curling dazzlingly white . Miss Pritchard , comfortably dressed in a plain pongee-silk suit with a long jacket , was ensconced on a willow settee with some recent English reviews . Elsie , perched on the railing , her back against a pillar , gazed at the far-away sky-line .