noon
She turned away and left the dining-room , swaying a little as she walked . Dr. Harpe returned to her room with a smirk of deep satisfaction upon her face . `` I soaked the knife home _ that _ time , '' she murmured , pinning on her stiff-brimmed Stetson before the mirror , but , mingled with her gratification was a slight feeling of uneasiness because she had gone farther than she had intended in mentioning Van Lennop 's letter and boasting that it had been left for her . The pair of horses which she and Lamb owned in common was at the stable already harnessed for their semi-weekly trip to the camps along the Ditch , but Dr. Harpe turned their heads in the opposite direction and by noon had reached the sheep-camp of old Edouard Dubois . She hitched her horses to the shearing-pen and opened the unlocked door of the cabin . A pan of freshly-made biscuit and a table covered with unwashed breakfast dishes told her that the cabin was being occupied , so she reasoned that it was safer to wait until some one returned than to search the hills for Dubois . A barking sheep-dog told her of some one 's approach , and in relief she went out to meet him , for she was restless and impatient of any delay .