nine in the morning
If there is one person in the world that 's got a talent for missing things , it 's Mr. Opp . I never seen him that he had n't just missed gettin ' a thousand dollar job , or inventin ' a patent , or bein ' hurt when he had took out a accident policy . If he did ketch a train , like enough it was goin ' the wrong way . '' Jimmy had been waiting since nine in the morning , and it was now well past noon . He was a placid gentleman of curvilinear type , short of limb and large of girth . His trousers , of that morose hue termed by the country people `` plum , '' reached to his armpits , and his hat , large and felt and weather-beaten , was only prevented from eclipsing his head by the stubborn resistance of two small , knob-like ears . `` Mr. Opp ai n't been back to the Cove for a long while , has he ? ''