summer noon
She had looked forward to a Dorcas , or Martha , or Rhoda at the outside , and a shade of misgiving crossed her face . It was possible that , had the young lady accompanied her brother to church , there would have been no dining at Narrobourne House that day . Not so with the young widower , her son . He resembled a sleeper who had awaked in a summer noon expecting to find it only dawn . He could scarcely help stretching his arms and yawning in their faces , so strong was his sense of being suddenly aroused to an unforeseen thing . When they had sat down to table he at first talked to Rosa somewhat with the air of a ruler in the land ; but the woman lurking in the acquaintance soon brought him to his level , and the girl from Brussels saw him looking at her mouth , her hands , her contour , as if he could not quite comprehend how they got created : then he dropped into the more satisfactory stage which discerns no particulars . He talked but little ; she said much .