noon
`` I wore this to-night , '' he said at length , with deliberation , `` in order that it might bring to your mind that sprightly ultramontane expedition in which , my dear Colonel , had you not been in England , you had undoubtedly borne a part . You have asked me a question ; I will answer it with a story , and so the time may pass more rapidly until the arrival of Mr. MacLean with our friends who set traps . '' He turned the mimic horseshoe this way and that , watching the small gems , that simulated nails , flash in the red light . `` Some days to the west of Germanna , '' he said , `` when about us were the lesser mountains , and before us those that propped the sky , we came one sunny noon upon a valley , a little valley , very peaceful below the heights . A stream shone through it , and there were noble trees , and beside the stream the cabin of a frontiersman . '' On went the story . The fire crackled , reflecting itself in mirrors and polished wood and many small window panes .