noon
Alden inquired , eagerly . `` Yes , my son . A messenger must take a letter to Lytton Lodge to explain the circumstances , and to ask your sister Laura and your aunt and uncle Lytton to come immediately , to be present at your marriage with my granddaughter . If the messenger to Lytton Lodge should start at noon to-day , as he must , he will hardly reach the Lodge before night . Nor will your relatives be able to reach here before noon tomorrow . So you see the necessity of the short delay . '' `` Yes , certainly , '' answered Alden .