noon
It was evidently hopeless to attempt to divert his young champion 's mind into channels of mercy . Reginald therefore , for lack of anything else to do , suggested to him to go on with the reading aloud , a command the boy obeyed with alacrity , starting of his own accord at the beginning of the book . So the two sat there , and followed their pilgrim through the perils and triumphs of his way , each acknowledging in his heart the spell of the wonderful story , and feeling himself a braver man for every step he took along with the valiant Christian . The morning went by and noon had come , and still the boy read on , until heavy footsteps on the stairs below startled them both , and sent a quick flush into Reginald 's cheeks . It needed no divination to guess what it meant , and it was almost with a sigh of relief that he saw the door open and a policeman enter . He rose to his feet and drew himself up as the man approached . `` Is your name Cruden Reginald ? ''