noon
He turned away , and the soldier , as he looked after him , said -- `` There is truth in thy words , but thou art ignorant that the knight and I were friends long before I knew thee . '' Nature I court in her sequestered haunts , By mountain , meadow , streamlet , grove or cell , Where the poised lark his evening ditty chaunts , And Health , and Peace , and Contemplation dwell . SMOLLETT . So long had the soldier been delayed by his interviews with Prudence and the Assistant , that it was not until past noon that he reached the knight 's residence . It was a large , irregularly built log-cabin , or cottage , covered with thatch , resembling somewhat , except in the last particular , and in being larger , the log-cabins one meets in the new settlements of the West , with a sort of piazza or porch , which seemed to have been lately built , running across the front . Such was the rude exterior ; though the interior , as we shall presently see , when we enter the building , was furnished in a style indicating both wealth and refinement . The house stood near the bottom of a hill , upon a piece of cleared land of perhaps half a dozen acres , upon which not the vestige of a stump was to be seen .