noon
`` Why , sirs , ye are all kind , '' said Nick , his voice beginning to tremble , `` very , very kind indeed , sirs ; but -- I -- I want my mother -- oh , masters , I do want my mother ! '' At that John Combe turned on his heel and walked out of the gate . Out of the garden-gate walked he , and down the dirty lane , setting his cane down stoutly as he went , past gravel-pits and pens to Southam 's lane , and in at the door of Simon Attwood 's tannery . * * * * * It was noon when he went in ; yet the hour struck , and no one came or went from the tannery . Mistress Attwood 's dinner grew cold upon the board , and Dame Combe looked vainly across the fields toward the town . But about the middle of the afternoon John Combe came out of the tannery door , and Simon Attwood came behind him . And as John Combe came down the cobbled way , a trail of brown vat-liquor followed him , dripping from his clothes , for he was soaked to the skin .