midday
But he himself would have been hard put to it to tell whether that sigh held more of regret , or of relief . While her grandfather was still on the porch , and her sister was out of the house , Plutina possessed herself of the new revolver , with its holster , which , after slipping down her gown from the shoulder , she attached under the left arm-pit . The looseness of the ill-fitting garment concealed the weapon effectually enough . For ready access , the upper buttons to the throat were left unfastened , in seeming relief against the heat of midday . Thus equipped , the girl stole out through the back way , unobserved by her relations , to keep tryst with the desperado . As she followed a blind trail that shortened the distance between the Siddon cabin and the Holloman Gate to a short two miles , Plutina was torturing a brain already overtaxed in the effort to devise some means whereby she might wreck the projects of the villain , without at the same time bringing ruin on herself , or those she loved . Always , however , her thoughts went spinning toward the same vortex of destruction .