noon
He had never felt so thoroughly at home anywhere in the world before . How happy he had been ! The thought of going far away and possibly never coming back gave him a little pang of grief . When the children returned at noon from school they were still full of their vivid impression of Salo 's sudden appearance and departure . They were all anxious to tell their mother about it , because they knew that they could always count on her lively sympathy . One or the other of the children kept forgetting that the mother must not be sought and would absent-mindedly make an attempt to go upstairs , but they were always met by unexpected resistance . Lippo on his arrival home from school had posted himself there to see that his mother 's orders were strictly kept .