noon
`` I do so love Miss May , '' the child would protest . `` I loves her next most to my muvver over dere . '' A chubby finger would point , or the golden head would nod , in the direction of the rickety tumble-down tenement across the way , the very one which Miss Selenski , the former agent of the model tenement , had called a `` fire trap . '' This little game of hide-and-seek took place every morning , for Lena May had promised the `` muvver over dere , '' who was slowly dying of consumption , that she would call for Tony , take him to the Settlement sandpile and return him safely at noon . If this was a merry moment each day for little Tony , it was to Dean Wiggin much more . The sweet , sympathetic girl , in her pretty muslin dress and flower-wreathed hat , suggested to the lad from the country all that he most loved , the fragrance of blossoms , the song of birds , and the peace of the meadow-pool at noon time . When she was gone , with a friendly backward nod at the crippled bookseller , he would always read poetry or try to write one that would express what Lena May was to him , to little Tony , or to the invalid mother who trusted her with her one treasure .