noon
`` Why , '' answered Superstition , `` Cruelty works cunningest when he is afraid ; and Liveloose never talks about himself . None the less there 's not a tree but casts a shadow . I met once an earnest yet very popular young gentleman of the name of Science , who explained almost everything on earth to me so clearly , and patiently , and fatherly , I thought I should evermore sleep in peace . But we met at noon . Believe me , sir , I would have followed Christian and his friend Hopeful very willingly long since ; for as for Cruelty and Obstinate and all that clumsy rabble , I heed them not . Indeed my cousin Mistrust _ did _ go , and as you see returned with a caution ; and a poor young school-fellow of mine , Jack Ignorance , came to an awful end . But it is because I owe partly to Christian and not all to myself this horrible solitude in which I walk that I dare not risk a deeper .