noon
Sybil mused : she recalled the moonlit hour when Mr Franklin first paid a visit to their cottage , their walks and wanderings , the expeditions which she planned and the explanations which she so artlessly gave him . Her memory wandered to their meeting in Westminster , and all the scenes of sorrow and of softness of which it was the herald . Her imagination raised before her in colours of light and life the morning , the terrible morning when he came to her desperate rescue ; his voice sounded in her ear ; her cheek glowed as she recalled their tender farewell . It was past noon : Sybil had reached the term of her expedition , had visited her last charge ; she was emerging from the hills into the open country , and about to regain the river road that would in time have conducted her to the bridge . On one side of her was the moor , on the other a wood that was the boundary of Mowbray Park . And now a number of women met her , some of whom she recognised , and had indeed visited earlier in the morning . Their movements were disordered , distress and panic were expressed on their countenances .