two hours
before noon
Bart had started at once for Millville . His first intention was to get a conveyance at the livery stable , his first impulse to solicit the co-operation of the town police . While discussing these points mentally , however , a farmer driving west came down the road . He had a good team , said he was passing through Millville , seemed glad to give Bart a lift , and so it was that the young express agent found himself on the solitary lookout there , two hours before noon . He experienced no difficulty whatever in finding out all about the Tollivers inside of twenty minutes after his arrival . They were the last members of a shiftless , indolent family who had lived on the edge of Millville for twenty years . When the father and mother died the family broke up .