noon
Step up and have a round . '' Usually the crowd would turn sheepish and dissolve at this Terpischorean threat . In fact , it was Miss Hoag 's method of accomplishing just that . In the August high noon of the Coney Island Freak Palace , which is the time and scene of my daring to introduce to you the only under-thirty-years , and over-one-hundred-and-thirty-pounds , heroine in the history of fiction , the megaphone 's catch of the day 's first dribble of humanity and inhumanity had not yet begun its staring , gaping invasion . A curtain of heat that was almost tangible hung from the glass roof . The Ossified Man , sworn by clause of contact impervious alike to heat and cold , urged his reclining wheel-chair an imperceptible inch toward the neighboring sway of Miss Hoag 's palm-leaf . She widened its arc , subtly .