noon
His minimum income was now at the respectable mark of a dollar and seventeen cents a week and still growing . At first , the thought that he was falling below the two dollar limit troubled him sorely until he remembered that everything must have a beginning . Just wait until a year from now ; he 'd make five dollars a week , he would ! `` I 'll bet you five thousand dollars that I do , '' he had told Silvey when that youngster scoffed at his plans as they walked to school , one bleak , overcast noon . Needless to say , Bill did not meet the wager . He was n't accustomed to thinking in such large sums and , besides , John 's manner was singularly convincing . Louise , the business man scarcely saw at all , save to walk home with her from school now and then , or to take her on Sunday expeditions to the park .