noon
As summer came on , the work , which at first was so difficult , gradually became automatic , and while her shoulders always ached , and her feet were always tired , she ceased for the most part to think of them . It was the confinement that told upon her , and when the long bright days came , and she thought of Forest Home and its woods and streams , her restlessness increased . The stifling finishing room , the endless complaints of the girls , and the everlasting crunching of glass under foot were at times almost unendurable . One day when the blue of the sky could not be dimmed even by factory smoke , and the air was full of enticement , Nance slipped out at the noon hour , and , watching her chance , darted across the factory yard out through the stables , to the road beyond . A decrepit old elm-tree , which had evidently made heroic effort to keep tryst with the spring , was the one touch of green in an otherwise barren landscape . Scrambling up the bank , Nance flung herself on the ground beneath its branches , and between the bites of a dry sandwich , proceeded to give vent to some of her surplus vitality . `` Arra , come in , Barney McKane , out of the rain , '' she sang at the top of her voice .