noon
Now that she thought of it , the curious , ill-formed , hesitating character of the writing seemed utterly out of keeping with the man 's apparent nature . He ought to have written strongly and boldly , it seemed to her . Gradually she was becoming certain that his word of honor that he had never penned them , or caused some one else to do it for him , would suffice to change the belief she had held . Yes -- she would go there , even before noon . If she met him on the road they could as well speak out in the open air . And if she could be sure that she had been mistaken in regard to him , she would beg his pardon , because he had tried to be good to her , with little encouragement on her part . She -- she did n't want him to think afterwards -- when everything would be ended , that she had been ungrateful and unjust .