noon
`` For she just bewitched the laddie , '' said Janet , angrily ; and , doubtless , if the old laws regarding witches had been in Janet 's administration it would have gone hardly with pretty Mary Moir . `` God 's work is soon done . '' It is a weary day when the youth first discovers that after all he will only become a man ; and this discovery came with a depressing weight one morning to David , after he had been counting bank notes for three hours . It was noon , but the gas was lit , and in the heavy air a dozen men sat silent as statues , adding up figures and making entries . He thought of the college courts , and the college green , of the crowded halls , and the symposia , where both mind and body had equal refection . There had been days when he had a part in these things , and when to `` strive with things impossible , '' or `` to pluck honor from the pale-faced moon , '' had not been unreasonable or rash ; but now it almost seemed as if Mr. Buckle 's dreary gospel was a reality , and men were machines , and life was an affair to be tabulated in averages . He had just had a letter from Willie Caird , too , and it had irritated him .