noon
We must above all things preserve the unity of the Cabinet in these circumstances of grave national crisis . '' `` Clear out , Dawson , '' whispered the First Lord . Dawson cleared out . It was a little past noon , and Dawson had much work to do before he could be free to speed north by the midnight train . First he skipped across to the Yard and into the private room of his firm friend the Chief . To him he showed the potent proclamation and recounted the methods of its extraction . `` I thought that I was in a company of jackals , '' said he at the end ; `` but I was wrong -- two of them were lions . ''