noon
He made up his mind that he could very well do without the book with colored plates of South American butterflies which he had thought of purchasing . Much better live without that than rub the bloom off a better than butterfly 's wing . Better anything than disturb that look of innocent ignorance on that girl 's little face . It was the next day that Randolph Anderson , on his way home at noon , saw ahead of him , just as he turned the corner from Main to Elm street , where his own house was , a knot of boys engaged in what he at first thought was a fight or its preliminaries . There was a great clamor , too . In the boughs of a maple in the near-by yard were two robins wrangling ; underneath were the boys . The air was full of the sweet jangle of birds and boyish trebles , for all the boys were young .