about noon
`` It is certainly a pretty landscape , '' remarked Grace , as they sped past one settlement after another . `` I do n't wonder that you said you 'd like to make sketches , Nan . '' `` But I have n't made any yet , '' was Nan 's answer , with a slight shrug of the shoulders . They reached Sunny Slopes about noon , and decided -- at least their ravenous appetites decided for them -- that they had better have something to eat before they inquired further into the mystery of Mrs. Bragley 's papers . Nan was the only one who seemed very much excited , and the others did not notice that the girl scarcely touched her lunch . It seemed an age to her before the meal was finished and Mr. Mason declared that they were ready to make their investigations . Nan and her friends would have been very much surprised had they known that they were being followed on their trip to Sunny Slopes , yet such was a fact .