noon
If anything had gone wrong she knew she 'd have heard . The thing that kept clutching at her heart was hope . The hope that the letter would n't come at all ; that there 'd be a telephone call instead -- and Rodney 's voice . The telephone did ring just before noon , but the voice was Galbraith 's . He wanted to know if she would n't come over to his Long Island farm the following morning and spend the day . She had visited the place two or three times and had always enjoyed it immensely there . It was n't much of a farm , but there was a delightful old Revolutionary farmhouse on it , with ceilings seven feet high and casement windows , and the floors of all the rooms on different levels ; and Galbraith , there , was always quite at his best .