noon
He was in his well-brushed blue coat , buttoned across his breast , his gray trousers fitted tight to his limbs , and fastened under his boots with a link chain . He saved a great deal of money in straps . No one ever saw Colonel Pompley in dressing-gown and slippers . He and his house were alike in order -- always fit to be seen `` From morn to noon , from noon to dewy eve . '' The colonel was a short compact man , inclined to be stout , -- with a very red face , that seemed not only shaved , but rasped . He wore his hair cropped close , except just in front , where it formed what the hairdresser called a feather , but it seemed a feather of iron , so stiff and so strong was it . Firmness and precision were emphatically marked on the colonel 's countenance .