noon
And I find among Mr. Kinney 's sermons no one which meets this state of things . '' The circumstances to which Draxy alluded had been some disgraceful scenes of excitement in connection with the Presidential election . Party spirit had been growing higher and higher in Clairvend for some years ; and when , on the reckoning of the returns on this occasion , the victorious party proved to have a majority of but three , sharp quarreling had at once broken out . Accusations of cheating and lying were freely bandied , and Deacon Plummer and George Thayer had nearly come to blows on the steps of the Town House , at high noon , just as the school-children were going home . Later in the afternoon there had been a renewal of the contest in the village store , and it had culminated in a fight , part of which Draxy herself had chanced to see . Long and anxiously she pondered , that night , the question of her duty . She dared not keep silent .