noon
He gazed ruefully , then he reached into his pocket and drew out a quarter , dropping it in the box . `` Well -- '' he said , wiping his feet ; but the whistle just then gave a long blast , and he did not finish the sentence . After supper Bannon and Peterson sat in the room they occupied together . In the walk home and during supper there had been the same sullen manner about the younger man that Bannon had observed at noon . Half a day was a long time for Peterson to keep to himself something that bothered him , and before the close of dinner he had begun working the talk around . Now , after a long silence , that Bannon filled with sharpening pencils , he said : `` Some people think a lot of themselves , do n't they , Charlie ? '' Bannon looked up from his pencils ; he was sitting on the edge of the bed .