noon
`` Already ? '' exclaimed Allan in surprise . `` These new machines certainly do surprise me with their speed and power . In the old days the Pauillac would n't have been here before noon from the Abyss ! '' Together , Beatrice and he walked round the wide piazza to the rear of the bungalow . The home estate sloped gently down toward the cement and boulder wall edging the cliff . In its broad garden stood the stable , where half a dozen horses -- caught on the northern savannas and carefully tamed -- disputed their master 's favor with the touring car he had built up from half a dozen partly ruined machines in Atlanta and other cities .