Twelve o’clock
They were so mysterious , often heard and never seen ; so high up , so far off , so full of such a deep strong melody , that he regarded them with a species of awe ; and sometimes when he looked up at the dark arched windows in the tower , he half expected to be beckoned to by something which was not a Bell , and yet was what he had heard so often sounding in the Chimes . For all this , Toby scouted with indignation a certain flying rumour that the Chimes were haunted , as implying the possibility of their being connected with any Evil thing . In short , they were very often in his ears , and very often in his thoughts , but always in his good opinion ; and he very often got such a crick in his neck by staring with his mouth wide open , at the steeple where they hung , that he was fain to take an extra trot or two , afterwards , to cure it . The very thing he was in the act of doing one cold day , when the last drowsy sound of Twelve o'clock , just struck , was humming like a melodious monster of a Bee , and not by any means a busy bee , all through the steeple ! ` Dinner-time , eh ! ' said Toby , trotting up and down before the church . ` Ah ! '