midday
But of course this was wickedly short of the truth . `` He declared that it was impossible to come to grief on the way , the brown horse being quiet as a lamb and knowing every stone of the road . And the end was that I consented . The brown horse was harnessed by the farm-boy and led round with the gig while Miss Jane Ann and I were finishing our midday meal . And I drove off alone in a black suit and with my heart in my mouth . `` Trumpeter , as the farmer had promised , was quiet as a lamb . He went forward at a steady jog , and even had the good sense to quarter on his own account for the one or two vehicles we met on the broad road .