noon
`` Never mind how -- it 's a long chance and hardly worth trying , but -- may I take the boat ? '' `` Certainly , '' said he , `` there 's one lying at the dock . '' He led her to the shore and saw her aboard , then waved good-bye and walked moodily back to the office , gratified that she should try to help him , yet certain that she could not succeed where he and George had failed . `` Fingerless '' Fraser had breakfasted late , as was his luxurious custom , and shortly before noon , in the course of his dissatisfied meanderings , he found his friend in the office , lost in sombre thought . It was the first time in many weeks that he had seen this mood in Boyd , and after a fruitless effort to make him talk , he fell into his old habit of imaginary reading , droning away to himself as if from a printed page : '' ` Your stay among us has not been very pleasant , has it ? ' Mr. Emerson inquired . '' ` Not so that you could notice it , '' replied our hero .