noon
Long , long before , she had induced him to promise that he would never offer the young officers spirits in his house . She would not prohibit wine at table , she said ; but she never thought of there coming a time when he himself would seek consolation in the glass and make up in quantity what it lacked in alcoholic strength . He was impatient of all reproof now , and would listen to no talk ; but Nellie was years her junior , -- more years than she would admit except at such times as these , when she meant to admonish ; and Nellie had to take it . Two weeks after their arrival at Warrener the burden of Mrs. Rayner 's song -- morn , noon , and night -- was , `` What would Mr. Van Antwerp say if he could but see this or hear that ? '' Can any reader recall an instance where the cause of an absent lover was benefited by the ceaseless warning in a woman 's ear , `` Remember , you 're engaged '' ? The hero of antiquity who caused himself to be attended by a shadowing slave whispering ever and only , `` Remember , thou art mortal , '' is a fine figure to contemplate -- at this remote date . He , we are told , admitted the need , submitted to the infliction .