midday
Yet they had been through so much suffering , their eyes had looked upon such hideous sights , that many of them were either nervous wrecks or else stupefied . Surely there could be no better service to France than this effort to bring back to her children a measure of their natural happiness ! Yvonne and Marta devised wonderful games in one end of the big school room . At midday Vera and Peggy always appeared with a special luncheon for their small guests and for the older ones as well . Bettina Graham and Alice Ashton took charge of the older pupils , and in teaching it appeared that Alice at last had found her metier . Vera and Peggy also worked at the farming out of doors . More important than any other of Miss Patricia Lord 's gifts to the community farm and the surrounding country was a motor tractor , which one day had rolled unconcernedly into the farm house yard , an ugly giant , proving of as much future value to the poor farmers in the neighborhood as any good giant of the ancient fairy tales .