noon
Neil had ignored all of them at the funeral , Margot 's sorrow they judged to be `` a vera dry manifestation , '' and Christine would not talk about her father 's last hours . The women generally disapproved of a grief that was so dry-eyed and silent . So gradually the little house on the hill became very solitary . Jamie ran up from the school at the noon hour , and sometimes he stayed an hour or two with them after the school was closed . Then the Domine came for him , and they all had tea together . But as the evening twilight lengthened , the games in the playground lengthened , and the Domine encouraged the lad in all physical exercises likely to increase his stature and his strength . Then the herring season came , and the Rulesons had nothing to do with it , and so they gradually lost their long preëminence .