midday
At the little house no one had seemed to think about references . He could have given one or two , of a sort . He had gone to considerable trouble to get them ; and now , not to have them asked for -- There was a house across and a little way down the Street , with a card in the window that said : `` Meals , twenty-five cents . '' Evidently the midday meal was over ; men who looked like clerks and small shopkeepers were hurrying away . The Nottingham curtains were pinned back , and just inside the window a throaty barytone was singing : `` Home is the hunter , home from the hill : And the sailor , home from sea . '' Across the Street , the man smiled grimly -- Home ! For perhaps an hour Joe Drummond had been wandering up and down the Street .