noon
`` I 've ` eerd it said that the old gentleman recognised him as a beggar boy ` e 'd tuck a fancy to an ' putt to school long ago ; but Billy did n't like the school , it seems , an ' runn 'd away -- w ` ich I do n't regard as wery surprisin ' -- an ' Mr Durant could never find out where ` e 'd run to . That 's how I ` eerd the story , but wot 's true of it I dun know . '' `` There goes the dinner-bell ! '' exclaimed Jack Shales , rising with alacrity on hearing a neighbouring clock strike noon . Jerry rose with a sigh , and remarked , as he shook the ashes out of his pipe , and put it into his waistcoat pocket , that his appetite had quite left him ; that he did n't believe he was fit for more than two chickens at one meal , whereas he had seen the day when he would have thought nothing of a whole leg of mutton to his own cheek . `` Ah , '' remarked Dick Moy , `` Irish mutton , I s ` pose . Well , I do n't know ` ow you feels , but I feels so hungry that I could snap at a ring-bolt ; and I know of a lot o ' child ` n , big an ' small , as wo n't look sweet on their daddy if he keeps 'em waitin ' for dinner , so come along , mates . ''