noon
`` What , then , do you mean to tell him ? '' asked Percivale . `` The truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth , '' said Mr. Blackstone . `` I shall go in to-morrow morning , just at the time when there will probably be far too many people at the bar , -- a little after noon . I shall return him his five sovereigns , ask for a glass of ale , and tell him the whole story , -- how my friend , the celebrated painter , came with his wife , -- and the rest of it , adding , I trust , that the child is all right , and at the moment probably going out for a walk with her mother , who wo n't let her out of her sight for a moment . '' He laughed again , and again I thought him heartless ; but I understand him better now . I wondered , too , that Percivale _ could _ go on talking , and yet I found that their talk did make the time go a little quicker .