noon
`` Good-bye , dear -- do n't walk too fast in this sun ! '' When Sally had tripped away , Martie sat on at the Library desk , staring vaguely into space . Outside , the village hummed with the peaceful sounds of a mild autumn morning . A soft fog had earlier enveloped it ; it was rising now ; every hour showed more of the encircling brown hills ; by noon the school children would rush into a sunshiny world . Shopping women pushed baby-carriages over the crossings ; a new generation of boys and girls would swarm to Bonestell 's in the late afternoon . Time was always moving , under it all ; in a few weeks the Clifford Frosts would be home again ; in a few months the High School would stand on the ground where little Sally and Martie Monroe had played dolls ' house a few years ago . This was her last week at the Library ; Daisy David was coming in to take her place .