noon
We had some general conversation after retiring , and it was all very happy and sociable . And of course Ponto slept in the room , too , and when , faithful guardian , he was not running to the door to growl at imaginary intruders , he was thumping his tail on the floor , or turning round and round before the fire to settle himself to his satisfaction . Saturday morning , Keats , Hen and even I tried to beg off from the funeral occasion ; but of course it was useless ; and there was a busy time getting ready to start . A little past noon , I , on Mandy , with Susanna behind me , and Mrs. Salyer on Charlie , with Sammy before and Neely behind , reached the top of Bee Tree Gap , and looked down into the valley on the far side , the boys racing ahead of us . On a hill-shoulder below , grave-houses were visible , and people and nags were moving about . Still farther down the valley , Mrs. Salyer showed me Emmeline 's lonely little home . Emmeline , she said , had died a year and three months before , during the typhoid that took off Mr. Salyer , leaving a virtuous and pious memory , seven small children , and a deeply-stricken `` widow . ''