noon
`` Oh , Angy ! '' Ruth Mary remonstrated , but she could not stay to comfort the kittens . She ran up the short , crooked stairs leading to the garret bedroom which she shared with Angy , hastily to put on her shoes and stockings and brace her pretty figure , under the blue calico waist she wore , with her first pair of stays , an important purchase made on her last visit to the town in the valley , and to be worn now , if ever . It was hot at noon in the bedroom under the roof , and by the time Ruth Mary had fortified herself to meet the eyes of strangers she was uncomfortably flushed , and short of breath besides from the pressure of the new stays . She went slowly down the uneven stairs , wishing that she could walk as softly in her shoes as she could barefoot . Her father was talking to the strangers in the shed-room . They seemed tall and formidable , under the low roof , against the flat glare of the sun on the hard-swept ground in front of the shed .