noon
The laugh was repeated in its low , syllabic tone , and terminated in an odd murmur . `` Grace ! '' exclaimed Mrs. Fairfax . I really did not expect any Grace to answer ; for the laugh was as tragic , as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard ; and , but that it was high noon , and that no circumstance of ghostliness accompanied the curious cachinnation ; but that neither scene nor season favoured fear , I should have been superstitiously afraid . However , the event showed me I was a fool for entertaining a sense even of surprise . The door nearest me opened , and a servant came out , -- a woman of between thirty and forty ; a set , square-made figure , red-haired , and with a hard , plain face : any apparition less romantic or less ghostly could scarcely be conceived . `` Too much noise , Grace , '' said Mrs. Fairfax .