about noon
`` If you can spare Harry , father , Jane can wait at luncheon ; and I 'll just put Harry myself on what I think will be the right scent . '' `` Well , my boy , it can be so , and you can do as you say , '' replied his father . `` I know we can trust Harry to do his best ; he can take the old mare , and we shall do very well with Jane till he comes back . '' Nothing loath , but rather gratified with the part he had to play and the trust placed in him , the old butler set out about noon on the old mare , accompanied by Walter , who was on his way to the Worthingtons ' . Harry would have preferred managing matters in his own fashion , which would have been to go on a tour of inquiry from farm to farm ; but , having no choice , he surrendered himself to the guidance and directions of Walter . So they rode on together for some miles till they came within sight of the cottage where Amos had been seen by his brother playing with the little children . `` There , Harry , '' said Walter , `` you see that cottage ?