noon
said the doctor , after he and Mary had tiptoed out of the room ; `` a little of the spirit in keeping with a dark-eyed girl who lives in the land of the Eternal Painter . '' `` All I had ! '' answered Mary , with simple earnestness . At noon Jack was still sleeping . He slept on through the last hours of the day . `` The first long stretch he has had , '' ran the bulletin , from tongue to tongue , `` and real sleep , too -- the kind that counts ! '' In the late afternoon , when the coolness and the shadows of evening were creeping in at the doors and windows , the doctor , Peter Mortimer , the father , and Firio were on the veranda , while Mrs. Galway was on watch by the bedside .