noon
I 've lost a lot of money . '' A wordy war followed , lasting the best part of a half an hour . Through this it was learned that the hotel man had prepared for the spread , and so had the professor of music . Just after noon telephone messages had come in , calling the whole affair off . Some hot words had passed over the wire , and the hotel man was considerably ruffled . The party talking to Jason Sparr had said that when the spread did come off it would be held elsewhere -- intimating that a better place than his hotel could be found . `` It 's all some trick , to get my business away from me ! ''