twelve o'clock
Ellen had had sufficient experience to know about how much each lot ought to fetch ; she overhauled lot after lot , and valued it ; in a very short time Ernest himself began to have a pretty fair idea what each lot should go for , and before the morning was over valued a dozen lots running at prices about which Ellen said he would not hurt if he could get them for that . So far from disliking this work or finding it tedious , he liked it very much , indeed he would have liked anything which did not overtax his physical strength , and which held out a prospect of bringing him in money . Ellen would not let him buy anything on the occasion of this sale ; she said he had better see one sale first and watch how prices actually went . So at twelve o'clock when the sale began , he saw the lots sold which he and Ellen had marked , and by the time the sale was over he knew enough to be able to bid with safety whenever he should actually want to buy . Knowledge of this sort is very easily acquired by anyone who is in _ bona fide _ want of it . But Ellen did not want him to buy at auctions -- not much at least at present . Private dealing , she said , was best .