noon
They went ahead so well that before the Barnstaple lawyer 's office was open next morning , the captain was sitting whistling on the step of the door , waiting for the clerk to come down the street with his key and open it . But instead of the clerk there came the master , with whom the captain fraternised on the spot to an extent that utterly confounded him . As he personally knew both Hugh and Alfred , there was no difficulty in obtaining immediate access to such of the father 's papers as were in his keeping . These were chiefly old letters and cash accounts ; from which the captain , with a shrewdness and despatch that left the lawyer far behind , established with perfect clearness , by noon , the following particulars : -- That one Lawrence Clissold had borrowed of the deceased , at a time when he was a thriving young tradesman in the town of Barnstaple , the sum of five hundred pounds . That he had borrowed it on the written statement that it was to be laid out in furtherance of a speculation which he expected would raise him to independence ; he being , at the time of writing that letter , no more than a clerk in the house of Dringworth Brothers , America Square , London . That the money was borrowed for a stipulated period ; but that , when the term was out , the aforesaid speculation failed , and Clissold was without means of repayment . That , hereupon , he had written to his creditor , in no very persuasive terms , vaguely requesting further time .