noon
The cross crowning the front glistened in fresh paint , while on the interior walls shone cheap lithographs of the Madonna and Christ . The old padre , proud and jealous as a bridegroom over his bride , directed the young friar here and there , himself standing aloof and studying with an artist 's eye every effect in color and drapery . The only discordant note in the interior was the rough benches , in the building of which Father Norquin himself had worked , thus following , as he repeatedly admonished us , in the footsteps of his Master , the carpenter of Galilee . The ceremony of dedication was to be followed by mass at high noon . Don Mateo Gonzales of Santa Maria sent his regrets , as did likewise Don Alejandro Travino of the Mission , but the other invited guests came early and stayed late . The women and children of the outlying ranchitas had not yet returned to their homes , and with our invited guests made an assembly of nearly a hundred and fifty persons . Unexpectedly , and within two hours of the appointed time for the service to commence , a cavalcade was sighted approaching the ranch from the west .