midday
You told me to ask . '' A few days later brought the response in a good-sized parcel . Yet this did not keep her from her care of the stock nor her rambles in the forest ; she was quick to utilize her rediscovery of the spring for watering the cattle ; it was not so far afield as the half-dried creek in the canyon , and was a quiet sylvan spot . She ate her frugal midday meal there and drank of its waters , and , secure in her seclusion , bathed there and made her rude toilet when the cows were driven home . But she did not again look into its mirrored surface when it was tranquil ! And so a month passed . But when Doctor Ruysdael was again due at the cabin , a letter was brought by Hoskins , with the news that he was called away on professional business down the coast , and could not come until two weeks later .