noon
It was a fair parallel between new Plebeianism and old Gentility . It really seemed as if the battered visage of the House of the Seven Gables , black and heavy-browed as it still certainly looked , must have shown a kind of cheerfulness glimmering through its dusky windows as Phoebe passed to and fro in the interior . Otherwise , it is impossible to explain how the people of the neighborhood so soon became aware of the girl 's presence . There was a great run of custom , setting steadily in , from about ten o ' clock until towards noon , -- relaxing , somewhat , at dinner-time , but recommencing in the afternoon , and , finally , dying away a half an hour or so before the long day 's sunset . One of the stanchest patrons was little Ned Higgins , the devourer of Jim Crow and the elephant , who to-day signalized his omnivorous prowess by swallowing two dromedaries and a locomotive . Phoebe laughed , as she summed up her aggregate of sales upon the slate ; while Hepzibah , first drawing on a pair of silk gloves , reckoned over the sordid accumulation of copper coin , not without silver intermixed , that had jingled into the till . `` We must renew our stock , Cousin Hepzibah ! ''