noon
`` Nor do I , '' volunteered the strange man . `` But I 've a partner up there who 's been expecting a letter for six months . See those lines of hopefuls ? By noon they 'll be extended two blocks . The first in line must have got there as soon as the ship was sighted , last evening . I 've known men to wait in line for a week , and have their meals brought to them . And then as like as not they did n't get their letter . ''