noon
`` What welcome news dost bring from the sign of the Whip-poor-Will ? '' Content asked of the woman , who had now come within the little gate of his court . `` Hast seen the Ensign , since the party took the hill-paths ; or is it some traveller who hath charged thee with matter for our ears ? '' `` Eye of man hath not seen the man since he girded himself with the sword of office , '' returned Faith , entering the piazza and nodding salutation to those around her ; `` and as for strangers , when the clock shall strike noon , it will be one month to the day that the last of them was housed within my doors . But I complain not of the want of custom , as the Ensign would never quit the bar and his gossip , to go into the mountain-lots , so long as there was one to fill his ears with the marvels of the old countries , or even to discourse of the home-stirrings of the colonies themselves . '' `` Thou speakest lightly , Faith , of one who merits thy respect and thy duty . '' The eye of the former studied the meek countenance of her from whom this reproof came , with an intenseness and a melancholy that showed her thoughts were on other matters , and then , as it suddenly recalled to what had passed , she resumed -- `` Truly , what with duty to the man as a husband , and respect to him as an officer of the colony Madam Heathcote , the task is not one of easy bearing .