noon
It was an actual fact that , at thirteen , cotton or lisle stockings brought out a little irritated rash on Hester 's slim young legs , and she wore silk . Abominations , it is true , at three pair for a dollar , that sprang runs and would not hold a darn , but , just the same , they were silk . There was an air of easy _ camaraderie _ and easy money about that house . It was not unusual for her to come home from school at high noon and find a front-room group of one , two , three , or four guests , almost invariably men . Frequently these guests handed her out as much as half a dollar for candy money , and not another child in school reckoned in more than pennies . Once a guest , for reasons of odd change , I suppose , handed her out thirteen cents . Outraged , at the meanness of the sum , and with an early and deep-dyed superstition of thirteen , she dashed the coins out of his hand and to the four corners of the room , escaping in the guffaw of laughter that went up .