noon
Too-ri-looral -- '' And he sauntered off humming gaily , making playful passes at the trees with his riding-crop as he passed . Later he aided his wife to mount and stood looking after her as she rode away , Portlaw pounding along heavily beside her . `` All alone with the daisies , '' he said , looking around him when they had disappeared . Toward noon he ordered a horse , ate his luncheon in leisurely solitude , read yesterday 's papers while he smoked , then went out , mounted , and took the road to Pride 's Fall , letting his horse choose his own pace . Moving along through the pretty forest road , he glanced casually right and left as he advanced , tapping his riding-boots in rhythm to the air he was humming in a careless undertone -- something about a shepherd and the plural tastes of man . His mood was inspired by that odd merriment which came from sheer perversity . When the depths and shallows of his contradictory character were disturbed a ripple of what passed for mirth covered all the surface ; if there was any profundity to the man the ripple obscured it .