noon
A NIMBUS of mystery clung to the professor the first two days of his stay . His arrival , late one afternoon , in the sewing-machine man 's buggy , was as unexplained as it was unexpected ; and when he was shown to the little girl 's room , which she hospitably relinquished , he volunteered neither his name nor his place of residence . The following morning he left the house , carrying a small paper box and a black hand-bag , and crossed the fields to the prairie , where he ran about , his spare figure stooped , as if he were picking something , while his left hand held an instrument that flashed in the sun . On his return at noon , his box and bag were closed , and only a green stain on his fingers gave any suggestion of what he had been doing . He spent the remainder of the day quietly in his room . The big brothers made various conjectures about him . The eldest declared that he was searching for minerals ; the biggest thought him a government agent on a secret mission ; while the youngest , to the terror of the little girl , who had not recovered from her adventure of a month before with Black Cloud , hinted at a dark purpose and openly asserted that it was dangerous to have the professor in the house .