noon
I feel a little queer myself . ' `` But nothing I could say quite banished the singular fancy which had taken possession of my young wife . Womenkind cling tenaciously to absurd ideas , especially when they are of the worrying kind ; and Elizabeth looked so troubled and sad that I soon caught the feeling and became melancholy too . `` It was long past noon and intensely sultry , and we were sitting on the porch where occasionally the faintest shadow of a breeze made life more endurable . Our horses , maddened by the flies and heat , chafed and stamped restlessly out at the gate . Elizabeth tried to amuse herself with a huge album of daguerreotypes which occupied the place of honor in the cabin parlor , and I smoked and lounged about , wondering what had become of Ailsee . '' ` Well , ' said I at last , ` we can not wait here forever .