noon
He reflected that he had adopted the measure of wage-cutting with no difficulty whatever . `` All it needs is a little firmness , '' he thought , with a boyish complacency in his own methods . `` Now I can keep on with the factory , and no turning the poor people adrift in midwinter . '' At noon Robert put on his fur-lined coat and left the factory , springing into the sleigh , which had drawn up before the door with a flurry of bells . He had an errand in the next town that afternoon , and was not going to return . When the sleigh had slid swiftly out of sight through the storm , which was lightening a little , the people in the office turned to one another with a curious expression of liberty , but even then little was said . Nellie Stone was at the desk eating her luncheon ; Ed Flynn and Dennison and one of the lasters , who had looked in and then stepped in when he saw Lloyd was gone , were there .