midday
She sailed some time before us for London . I thought he 'd have been home by this . '' It was not until two days later , however , that the gossip in Sunwich received a pleasant fillip by the arrival of the injured captain . He came down from London by the midday train , and , disdaining the privacy of a cab , prepared to run the gauntlet of his fellow-townsmen . A weaker man would have made a detour , but he held a direct course , and with a curt nod to acquaintances who would have stopped him walked swiftly in the direction of home . Tradesmen ran to their shop-doors to see him , and smoking amphibians lounging at street corners broke out into sunny smiles as he passed . He met these annoyances with a set face and a cold eye , but his views concerning children were not improved by the crowd of small creatures which fluttered along the road ahead of him and , hopeful of developments , clustered round the gate as he passed in .