noon
He stole one glance around the building to where a patient figure waited for him . Then he fled down a side alley and soon was out upon the country road , tramping soddenly homeward through the dust , his chin sunk in his breast and his hands clenched tight at his sides . Now and then he stopped and bitterly hurled a stone at a piping bird on a fence , or gay Bob White in the fields . At noon the patient figure was still waiting in the corner of the court-house yard , meekly twisting the golden ring upon her finger . But the flushed young man who had spoken thickly to her deserter drew an envied roll of bankbills from his pocket and began to bet with tipsy caution , while the circle about the gamblers watched with fervid interest , especially Mr. Bardlock , Town Marshal . From far up Main Street came the cry `` She 's a-comin ' ! She 's a-comin ' ! ''