noon
` When do you go down ? ' again asked Mr. Smith . ` To tell you the truth , I was writing to Lancelot when you were announced ! but the post will not reach him till to-morrow at noon , and we are all so busy here , that I have no one whom I can trust to carry down an express . ' The vicar saw what was coming . Was it his good angel which prompted him to interpose ? ` Why not send a parcel by rail ? '