noon
We 'll have no whispering or coddling , understand . '' The bondsman sullenly obeyed , and a moment later the sleigh started . The servant looked wistfully after it until the sound of the bells was lost , and then , with a sigh , he went to his work . With all the vantage of the daylight start , it took good driving among the drifts to get over the twenty-eight miles that lay between Greenwood and Trenton before the universal noon dinner , and as the sleigh drew up at the Drinkers ' home on the main street of the village , the meal was in the air if not on the table . -LSB- Illustration : `` You set me free . '' -RSB- For this reason the two girls had not a chance for a moment 's confidence before dinner ; and though Janice was fairly bursting with all that had happened since Tibbie 's visit , the departure of the squire for Burlington immediately the meal was ended , and the desire of Tabitha 's father and aunt to have news of Mrs. Meredith and of the doings `` up Brunswick way , '' filled in the whole afternoon till tea time -- if the misnomer can be used , for , unlike the table at Greenwood , tea was a tabooed article in the Drinker home . One fact worth noting about the meal was that Janice asked if any of them knew who Thalia was .