noon
Then she looked at the lilac sunbonnet , as if it ought to have known . `` At any rate he has very good taste , '' she said . But the lilac sunbonnet said never a word . The farm town of Craig Ronald drowsed in the quiet of noon . In the open court the sunshine triumphed , and only the purple-grey marsh mallows along the side of the house under the windows gave any sign of life . In them the bees had begun to hum at earliest dawn , an hour and a half before the sun looked over the crest of Ben Gairn . They were humming busily still .