half to three
Mr. Pinkham had now bought the `` Herald , '' and also the `` Sun , '' well recommended by an able newsboy , and presently they crossed over from that corner by the Fifth Avenue Hotel which seems like the very heart of New York , and found a place to sit down on the Square -- an empty bench , where they could sit side by side and look the papers through , reading over each other 's shoulder , and being impatient from page to page . The paragraph was indeed repeated , with trifling additions . Ederton of the `` Sun '' had followed the `` Tribune '' man 's lead , and fabricated a brief interview , a marvel of art and discretion , but so general in its allusions that it could create no suspicion ; it almost deceived Mr. Pinkham himself , so that he found unaffected pleasure in the fictitious occasion , and felt as if he had easily covered himself with glory . Except for the bare fact of the interview 's being imaginary , there was no discredit to be cast upon Mr. Abel Pinkham 's having said that he thought the country near Wetherford looked well for the time of year , and promised a fair hay crop , and that his income was augmented one half to three fifths by his belief in the future of maple sugar . It was likely to be the great coming crop of the Green Mountain State . Ederton suggested that there was talk of Mr. Pinkham 's presence in the matter of a great maple-sugar trust , in which much of the capital of Wall Street would be involved . `` How they do hatch up these things , do n't they ? ''