noon
I do n't deserve to have a man like you troubling himself about me . '' It was his one spoken tribute to their friendship ; and both , with the nervousness of honest men in the presence of emotion , hastened to change the subject . Wratislaw left betimes the next morning , and a long day faced Lewis with every hour clamouring for a decision . George would be back by noon , and before his return he must seek quiet and the chances of reflection . He was happy with a miserable fluctuating happiness . Of a sudden his horizon was enlarged , but as he gazed it seemed to narrow again . His mind was still unplumbed ; somewhere in its depths might lie the shrinking and unwillingness which would bind him to the dreary present .