noon
I remember the curious winding , wandering air she had been singing -LRB- without any words , as usual -RRB- over her business , and how she touched each flower first with her lips , and then brushed it lightly across her bosom before she wove it in . She had kept her eyes on me as she did it , looking up from under her brows , as if to see whether I knew what she was about . `` I do n't doubt now but that she was bewitching Florrie by this curious performance , which every flower had to undergo separately ; but , fool that I was , I thought nothing of it at the time , and bicycled off to Salisbury leaving them there . `` At noon my poor wife came to me at the Bank distracted with anxiety and fatigue . She had run most of the way , she gave me to understand . Her news was that Florrie and Bran could not be found anywhere . She said that she had gone to the gate of the meadow to call the child in , and not seeing her , or getting any answer , she had gone down to the river at the bottom .