about midday
He promised a reward of sixpence if the correct answer were forthcoming in a minute , and raised it to a shilling during the next minute . This stimulated their wits to suggest `` a day and three-quarters '' instead of the first frantic effort of `` three days and a half . '' `` No , '' said he . `` Think it over , ponder it with ardor , and if you have the right answer ready when I pass this way again about midday I 'll give you a shilling each . '' There is no saying what sum he would have given those urchins if some magician had spoken by their mouths and bade him hasten to Hereford with all the zest of all the horses pent beneath the Mercury 's bonnet . But he left the boys ciphering on a gate with a bit of lead pencil which he lent them , and pulled up at the door of the Green Dragon Hotel in Hereford just five minutes after the Sunday morning express to London had snatched a fuming and indignant Earl of Fairholme from off the platform of the Great Western railway station . `` Whose car ? ''