noon
It 's only professional strong men should ask questions . Babes like you and me must keep to slops . ' So , though Lawford made no answer , it was agreed . Before noon the three of them had set out on their walk across the fields . And after rambling on just as caprice took them , past reddening blackberry bushes and copses of hazel , and flaming beech , they sat down to spread out their meal on the slope of a hill , overlooking quiet ploughed fields and grazing cattle . Herbert stretched himself with his back to the earth , and his placid face to the pale vacant sky , while Lawford , even more dispirited after his walk , wandered up to the crest of the hill . At the foot of the hill , upon the other side , lay a farm and its out-buildings , and a pool of water beneath a group of elms .