noon
`` Sometimes it is written phonetically , but most authors dictate to a phonograph . Well , when I get it , I take it home and study it , perhaps a couple of days , perhaps a couple of weeks , sometimes , if it is really an important work , a month or two , in order to get into sympathy with the ideas , and decide on the proper style of rendering . All this is hard work , and has to be paid for . '' At this point our conversation was broken off by Hamage , who declared that , if we were to catch the last train out of town before noon , we had no time to lose . Of the trip out to Hamage 's place I recall nothing . I was , in fact , aroused from a sound nap by the stopping of the train and the bustle of the departing passengers . Hamage had disappeared .