midday
When Inga came , Beret took herself off , and when Mildrid went to see Inga , Beret went crying away after the cows , and had the herd-boys for company . Mildrid felt that there was something wrong in all this , but with the best will she could not set it right . She was sitting one day near the soeter , herding the goats and sheep , because one of the herd-boys had played truant and she had to do his work . It was a warm midday ; she was sitting in the shade of a hillock overgrown with birch and underwood ; she had thrown off her jacket and taken her knitting in her hand , and was expecting Inga . Something rustled behind her . `` There she comes , '' thought Mildrid , and looked up . But there was more noise than Inga was likely to make , and such a breaking and cracking among the bushes .