noon
`` Beautifully , '' said Polly , with enthusiasm . `` You do tell such splendid stories , Alan . '' The group in Mrs. Adams 's parlor had gathered there for a strange purpose , that day . An old negro , well-known throughout the town , had died , two days before , and Alan had discovered , only that noon , that the man was to be buried with military honors . The line of march to the cemetery lay past the Adams house , so Mrs. Adams had asked them all to come there , to watch the solemn pageant . It was a cold , gray April day , threatening rain at any moment . As the girls and Alan reached the gate , they had paused , for a minute , to watch the fast-gathering crowd as it hurried away up the street to the old brown house , just visible in the distance , whose end , jutting out on the street , was surrounded with the members of the company , who had assembled to pay the last honors to their sleeping comrade .