noon
The thin , quarrelsome voice of Silas Blackburn echoed in the mouldy court . The stout , bent figure in the candlelight studied them suspiciously . Katherine clung to Bobby , trembling , startled beyond speech by the apparition . They both stared at the gray face , at the thick figure , which , three days after death , they had seen buried that noon in the overgrown cemetery . Bobby recalled how Doctor Groom had reminded him that an activity like this might emerge from such places . He had suggested that the condition of the family burial ground might be an inspiration to such strayings . Yet why should the spirit of Silas Blackburn have escaped ?