noon
So finishing my breakfast , I walked out with them to the tavern yard , where I had my pick among the sorriest-looking dozen of nags in England , and finally bought from the red-haired man , for five pounds , bridle , saddle , and a flea-bitten grey that seem 'd more honestly raw-boned than the rest . And the owner wept tears at the parting with his beast , and thereby added a pang to the fraud he had already put upon me . And I rode from the tavern door suspecting laughter in the eyes of every passer-by . The day -LSB- 't was drawing near noon as I started -RRB- was cold and clear , with a coating of rime over the fields : and my horse 's feet rang cheerfully on the frozen road . His pace was of the soberest : but , as I was no skilful rider , this suited me rather than not . Only it was galling to be told so , as happened before I had gone three miles . 'T was my friend the pickpocket : and he sat before a fire of dry sticks a little way back from the road .