noon
`` Surely , general , you are blind to your own interests , and respect not my reputation , '' replied Mr. Stretcher , going right into a passion , and so far forgetting what belonged to good manners as to say he verily believed the general a trifling simpleton , who was resolved on making an ass of himself in the eyes of the administration , as well as doing him -LRB- Stretcher -RRB- out of the pay for his services . And this so excited the ire of the general , who was scrupulous of his honor , as well as vain of his good understanding , that he forthwith proceeded to take down his sword , swearing to have summary vengeance of the man who dared to cast such reflections upon his dignity . Seeing this Mr. Stretcher took to his heels , the general saying it was well he did or he had cleft him in two pieces . And while the excited general stood brandishing his sword in the door , Mr. Stretcher shouted back from a corner of the passage , that unless his demand for services , which were two hundred dollars , be settled at high noon , he would see what virtue there was in the law . SEVERAL days had elapsed , the general 's letter was before the cabinet , and many were the speculations as to what sort of a mission a man with such strange intellect was capable of filling . It must be confessed that his letter afforded the cabinet no little diversion ; indeed , many were the members who marvelled at the queer mixture of sense and nonsense it contained . And the more they amused themselves in pondering over it , the more did they seem to find veins of good sense concealed in it .