noon
But of one thing I am pretty certain , that such visions do not appear when people are looking for them . You must not go staring into the dark trying to see me . Do your work , pray your prayers , and be sure I love you : if I am to come , I will come . It may be in the hot noon or in the dark night : it may be with no sight and no sound , yet a knowledge of presence ; or I may be watching you , helping you perhaps and you never know it until I come to fetch you at the last , -- if I may . You have been daughter and sister , and mother to me , my Ruth . You have been my one in the world . God , I think sometimes , has planted about you and me , my child , a cactus-hedge of ugliness , that we might be so near and so lonely as to learn love as few have learned it in this world -- love without fear , or doubt , or pain , or anxiety -- with constant satisfaction in presence , and calm content in absence .