midday
Marguerite noted his approach with a protecting eye . `` It 's all solid common sense , '' she said in an undertone to Joan , referring , it would appear , to his bulk . In only one respect was she misinformed as to the arrangements for the morning . Tony Cornish was not coming to the hotel to fetch Mr. Wade and White , but was to meet them in the shadiest of all thoroughfares and green canals , the Koninginne Gracht , where at midday the shadows cast by the great trees are so deep that daylight scarcely penetrates , and the boats creep to and fro like shadows . This amendment had been made in view of the fact that Lord Ferriby was in the hotel , and was , indeed , at this moment partaking of a solemn breakfast in his private sitting-room overlooking the Toornoifeld . His lordship did not , therefore , see these two solid pillars of the British constitution walk across the corner of the Korte Voorhout , cigar in lip , in a placid silence begotten , perhaps , of the knowledge that , should an emergency arise , they were of a material that would arise to meet it . Cornish was awaiting them by the bank of the canal .