noon
`` And He has kept him safe , '' said the minister , `` all these years . '' Katie came now and then , and looked in , but she did not speak , except once to say that grannie was sleeping still . Even Katie never knew how the minister and her grandfather passed the long morning . It was noon when she went in and told them that dinner was nearly ready , and that grannie was awake and asking for them . Afterward Mr Maxwell told Miss Elizabeth something about it . How as it gradually became clear to the father that his dear son 's light had not gone out in darkness , but that he had repented of his sin , and confessed it , and had been as he trusted forgiven , his grief and shame and penitence were even deeper than his joy . `` To think that I should have been misdoubting the Lord all this time , as though He had broken His promise to me !