noon
At first , after she left school , as was inevitable , her self-discipline was irksome enough at times , and some of the details she shirked ; but not for long , because the time which accustomed duties should have occupied hung heavy on her hands , and she felt dissatisfied with herself rather than relieved when she neglected them . So by degrees her habits were formed , and in after life she found them a very present help in time of trouble , anchors which kept her from drifting to leeward , as she must have done but for their hold upon her . Some of her erratic tricks were not to be cured , but they came to be part of the day 's work rather than a hindrance to it . She saw many a sunrise , for instance , and revelled with uplifted spirit in the beauty and wonder of the hour ; but the soul that sang responsive to the glories of the summer dawn , the colour , the freshness , the perfume , was steeped at noon with equal energy in the book she was studying , so that , instead of losing anything , she gained that day one sunrise more . When she left school Beth was fastidiously refined . She hurried over all the hateful words and passages in the Bible , Shakespeare , or any other book she might be reading . The words she would not even pronounce to herself , so strongly did her delicate mind revolt from a vile idea , and sicken at the expression of it .