noon
Lord Maulevrier was out of health and feeble , and grumbled a good deal about the fatigue of the journey , the badness of the weather , which was dull and cold , east winds all day , and a light frost morning and night . As they progressed northward the sky looked grayer , the air became more biting . His lordship insisted upon the stages being shortened . He lay in bed at his hotel till noon , and was seldom ready to start till two o'clock . He could see no reason for haste ; the winter would be long enough in all conscience at Fellside . He complained of mysterious aches and pains , described himself in the presence of hotel-keepers and headwaiters as a mass of maladies . He was nervous , irritable , intensely disagreeable .