noon
Ben went off to sail the north sea in Captain Gillam 's ship . M. Picot , the French doctor , brought a governess from Paris for Hortense , so that we saw little of our playmate , and Jack Battle continued to live like a hunted rat at the docks . My uncle and Rebecca 's father , who were beginning to dabble in the fur trade , had jointly hired a peripatetic dominie to give us youngsters lessons in Bible history and the three R 's . At noon hour I initiated Rebecca into all the thrilling dangers of Indian warfare , and many a time have we had wild escapes from imaginary savages by scaling a rope ladder of my own making up to the high nursery window . By-and-bye , when school was in and the dominie dozed , I would lower that timid little whiffet of a Puritan maid out through the window to the turnstile . Then I would ride her round till our heads whirled . If Jack Battle came along , Rebecca would jump down primly and run in , for Jack was unknown in the meeting-house , and the meeting-house was Rebecca 's measure of the whole world .