noon
Then it seemed to him , too , that Malva was afraid of the father ; if she were not afraid she would talk differently . Now she was missing in his life while only that morning he had not thought of her . And so he wandered for several hours along the beach , stopping here and there to chat with fishermen he knew . At noon he took a siesta under the shade of an upturned boat . When he awoke he took another stroll and came across Malva far from the fishing ground , reading a tattered book under the shade of the willows . She looked up at Iakov and smiled . `` Ah , there you are , '' he said , sitting down beside her .