noon
Almost as flushed as she had been in my dream , she leaned over the edge of the bank and began to demolish our flowery pagoda . I had never seen her so energetic ; she was panting with zeal , and the perspiration stood in drops on her short , yielding upper lip . I sprang to my feet and ran up the bank . It was noon now , and so hot that the dogwoods and scrub-oaks began to turn up the silvery underside of their leaves , and all the foliage looked soft and wilted . I carried the lunch-basket to the top of one of the chalk bluffs , where even on the calmest days there was always a breeze . The flat-topped , twisted little oaks threw light shadows on the grass . Below us we could see the windings of the river , and Black Hawk , grouped among its trees , and , beyond , the rolling country , swelling gently until it met the sky .