noon
We discussed a thousand explanations of it as we pondered over the scrap of paper I had found in the library , and every book in the house was examined in the search for further clues . The passage between the house and the chapel seemed to fascinate Larry . He held that it must have some particular use and he devoted his time to exploring it . He came up at noon -- it was the twenty-ninth of December -- with grimy face and hands and a grin on his face . I had spent my morning in the towers , where it was beastly cold , to no purpose and was not in a mood for the ready acceptance of new theories . `` I 've found something , '' he said , filling his pipe . `` Not soap , evidently ! ''