midday
`` I do n't know how to use strategy , and would n't crawl to do such a thing if I could . '' `` Neither would I , but if I loved a man and saw that he loved me , I 'd secretly hoist a little flag of encouragement in some place where he could see it , '' I made reply . Next morning was gloriously spring-like ; the violets raised their heads in thick mats of blue and white in every available cranny of the garden and other enclosures where they were allowed to assert themselves , while other plants were opening their garlands to replace them , and the air breathed such a note of balminess that Ernest came to invite me to a boat-ride . To the practised eye there were certain indications that he hoped for Dawn 's company too , but this was out of the question , as under ordinary circumstances it is rarely that girls in Dawn 's walk of life can go pleasuring in the forenoon without previous warning , or what would become of the half-cooked midday dinner ? So we set out by ourselves , and as the boat shot out to the middle of the stream between the peach orchards , just giving a hint of their coming glory , and past the erstwhile naked grape-canes , not cut away and replaced by a vivid green , the rower made a studiedly casual remark , `` Your friend Miss Dawn spoke to me again at last . I wonder why on earth she threw that dish of water on me ; did she ever say that she had anything against me ? '' `` No .