noon
Nor was it to be supposed that Barnaby would take the pains to consider what was to become of it all , for what young man so situated as he but would be perfectly content to live so agreeably in a fool 's paradise , satisfying himself by assigning the whole affair to the future to take care of itself . Accordingly , our hero endeavored , and with pretty good success , to put away from him whatever doubts might arise in his own mind concerning what he was about , satisfying himself with making his conversation as agreeable to his companion as it lay in his power to do . So the affair continued until the end of the whole business came with a suddenness that promised for a time to cast our hero into the utmost depths of humiliation and despair . At that time the _ Belle Helen _ was , according to Captain Manly 's reckoning , computed that day at noon , bearing about five-and-fifty leagues northeast-by-east off the harbor of Charleston , in South Carolina . Nor was our hero likely to forget for many years afterwards even the smallest circumstance of that occasion . He may remember that it was a mightily sweet , balmy evening , the sun not having set above half an hour before , and the sky still suffused with a good deal of brightness , the air being extremely soft and mild . He may remember with the utmost nicety how they were leaning over the rail of the vessel looking out towards the westward , she fallen mightily quiet as though occupied with very serious thoughts .