noon
`` A plague upon my dreams ! '' thought Humphrey , his native common sense getting the better of his superstition . `` I had never ventured my head in this noose but for them . I must now get it out as I can , but that will never be done by noon . '' Almost as soon as Humphrey had seen him , Walter Skinner had seen Humphrey , and had recognized both man and horse as the same he had seen from the treetop leaving the castle with Hugo the previous day . Not finding any trace of the two in the neighborhood of Selby , he had come on to Ferrybridge , while his companion , Richard Wood , had gone south by the very way Hugo would start out on at noon . He gave no sign of recognizing Humphrey , however , and Humphrey seemed not to recognize him .