noon
Surely she was safe for that night ; and she turned the key in her door and went to sleep . And her sleep was that which God giveth to his beloved when they are to be strengthened for many days -- a deep , dreamless suspense of all thought and feeling . Yet , heavenly as the sleep had been , the awakening was a shock . And as the day grew toward noon she was as much troubled by the silence of events as her husband had been by the silence of her lips . Human hearts are nests of fear . Her whole soul kept going to the window , and she said , with the impatience of suspended suffering , '' _ Now ! now !