noon
`` I tried to , '' replied Oscar ; `` but it was trodden down so hard , I could n't get it off . '' `` But you should have done it before it got hardened . I told you to clear a passage-way , yesterday morning . That would have saved the rest from getting trod down , and at noon you could have finished the job . Why did you not do as I told you to ? '' `` I did begin to make a path , '' replied Oscar ; `` but I did n't have time to finish it , and when I got home from school , the snow was all trodden down hard . '' `` Did n't have time ? ''