noon
`` Me for a bath , a shave , a good breakfast and -- honest toil . '' Sol Wants a Good Wife -- Bad Phil was busy in the forge one morning , all alone . Sol Hanson , for some unknown reason , had failed to put in an appearance , and his assistant was not a little troubled over his absence . Before starting out to make inquiries , however , he decided to work away until noon , for it was the day after the Provincial Election , and the results were expected any minute and were anxiously awaited . He felt quite confident within himself that John Royce Pederstone would be elected , for the candidate had received a splendid reception at all his meetings throughout the Valley , with the solitary exception of the hometown of his opponent . Furthermore , rumour had it that Pederstone 's party was sweeping the country , so , if there was anything at all in indications , Royce Pederstone 's election was a foregone conclusion . Phil had noticed that the nearer the election day had drawn , the more serious , nervous and unsettled Sol had seemed to grow , as if he dreaded the possibility of his old master 's defeat and was taking it to himself as a personal matter .