about half past one o'clock
`` She evidently prefers you . '' `` I 'll adopt her for my aunt if it 'll be gratifying to her feelings , '' said Dick ; `` but I aint partial to ringlets as a general thing . '' It is well perhaps that Miss Peyton did not hear these remarks , as she cherished the idea that both Fosdick and Dick were particularly pleased with her . A day or two afterwards Dick was walking leisurely through Chatham Street , about half past one o'clock . He was allowed an hour , about noon , to go out and get some lunch , and he was now on his way from the restaurant which he usually frequented . As it was yet early , he paused before a window to look at something which attracted his attention . While standing here he became conscious of a commotion in his immediate neighborhood .