morning, noon
`` Longer than you 'll like , '' was the enigmatical reply . `` It 's the devil 's own business , '' was the weary answer . `` Every minute 's valuable to me now . I ought to be on deck morning , noon , and night . There 's all the trouble between the two towns ; there 's the strike on hand ; there 's that business of the Orange funeral , and more than all a thousand times , there 's -- '' he paused . He was going to say , `` There 's that devil Marchand 's designs on my bridge , '' but he thought better of it and stopped . It had been his intention to deal with Marchand directly , to get a settlement of their differences without resort to the law , to prevent the criminal act without deepening a feud which might keep the two towns apart for years .