noon
Howsomedever , when I want your help , I shall know how to ask for it , and I hope you 'll give it freely . I do n't want fine words ; they never pulled anybody out of the ditch that I 've heard tell of . '' Whatever the bailiff 's trouble had been , it seemed to be lightened to-day , Ellen thought ; and yet that unusual noisy gaiety of his gave her an uncomfortable feeling : it did not seem natural or easy . Her household work was done by noon , and she dressed hurriedly , while her father called for her impatiently from below -- standing at the foot of the wide bare old staircase , and bawling up to her that they should be late at Wyncomb . She looked very pretty in her neat dark-blue merino dress and plain linen collar , when she came tripping downstairs at last , flushed with the hurry of her toilet , and altogether so bright a creature that it seemed a hard thing she should not be setting out upon some real pleasure trip , instead of that most obnoxious festival to which she was summoned . Her father looked at her with a grim kind of approval . `` You 'll do well enough , lass , '' he said ; `` but I should like you to have had something smarter than that blue stuff .