noon
`` With a little stretch of the imagination you might take it for the curtain in the Kolozsvar theatre , with Apollo and the muses painted on it . One feels almost like stamping one 's feet , to make it go up and the play begin . '' But the undercurrent of the speaker 's thoughts was quite different . `` What if Manasseh should n't come by noon -- by nightfall ? '' he was asking himself . `` Then what is to become of this poor girl ? '' Aloud once more : `` That lad Manasseh must have made a little mistake -- just like these young men !