noon
Mrs. Richards , with sanctimonious rolling of her eyes , admitted that she had recognized long before an inherent coarseness in the character of Persis Dale . Others like Annabel Sinclair exclaimed over the folly of burdening one 's self with juvenile responsibilities when free to seek distraction wherever one pleased . Diantha did not agree with her mother . Ever since the memorable occasion when , with the dressmaker 's connivance , she had startled Clematis by growing up between noon and supper-time , she had been one of Persis ' attendant satellites . But after the advent of the children she fairly haunted the establishment . She dropped in after breakfast to announce that Miss Perkins credited Algie with having the best head for arithmetic of any boy in her room and came again at noon to suggest taking Malcolm and Celia for a walk . But though she distributed her favors with creditable impartiality , she found the baby peculiarly fascinating .