noon
She would be giving up part of herself when she took these back . Yet it had to be done , and one miserable morning she made them all into a neat package , intending to carry them to the mill and place them on Stoddard 's desk thus early , when nobody would be in the office . Then the children came in ; Deanie was half sick ; and in the distress of getting the ailing child comfortably into her own bed , Johnnie forgot the books . Taking them in at noon , she met Stoddard himself . `` I 've brought you back your -- those little books of Old English Poetry , '' she said , with a sudden constriction in her throat , and a quick burning flush that suffused brow , cheek and neck . Stoddard looked at her ; she was thinner than she had been , and otherwise showed the marks of misery and of factory life . The sight was almost intolerable to him .