noon
The rector of the parish , the Rev. Ebenezer Caudray , had become rich . His uncle , the magnificent Dean of St. Asaph , had just died in London . The news had been brought by the mail sloop , the _ Cashmere _ , arrived from England that very morning , and the mast of which could be perceived in the roads of St. Peter 's Port . The _ Cashmere _ was to depart for Southampton at noon on the morrow , and , so the rumour ran , to convey the reverend gentleman , who had been suddenly summoned to England , to be present at the official opening of the will , not to speak of other urgent matters connected with an important inheritance . All day long St. Sampson had been conversing on this subject . The _ Cashmere _ , the Rev. Ebenezer , his deceased uncle , his riches , his departure , his possible preferment in the future , had formed the foundations of that perpetual buzzing . A solitary house , still uninformed on these matters , had remained at peace .