noon
`` Who 's she mean that for ? '' demanded the Judge , truculently . `` The Cowan boy ? '' On a day late in June of 1919 Wilbur Cowan dropped off the noon train that paused at Newbern Center . He carried the wicker suitcase he had taken away , and wore the same clothes . He had the casual , incurious look of one who had been for a little trip down the line . No one about the station heeded him , nor did he notice any one he knew .