about noon
One of them was , that a child came out of a grassy hillock by the wayside , called her mamma , and said she was much obliged to her for taking her off the cold stone , and making her a butterfly ; and with that the child spread out gorgeous and great wings and soared up to a white cloud , and there sat laughing merrily to her . Every afternoon Davie read to her , and thence Donal gained a duty -- that of finding suitable pabulum for the two . He was not widely read in light literature , and it made necessary not a little exploration in the region of it . On the day after the last triad in the housekeeper 's parlour , as Donal sat in the schoolroom with Davie -- about noon it was -- he became aware that for some time he had been hearing laborious blows apparently at a great distance : now that he attended , they seemed to be in the castle itself , deadened by mass , not distance . With a fear gradually becoming more definite , he sat listening for a few moments . `` Davie , '' he said , `` run and see what is going on . '' The boy came rushing back in great excitement .