noon
`` And who knows what sort of invitation it was ? '' retorted the old porter discontentedly . `` Since when have you friends in Venice who bid you come to their houses at night , like a thief ? Honest men , who are friends , say ` Come and eat with me at noon , for to-day we have this , or this ' -- say , a roast sucking pig , or tripe with garlic . And perhaps you go ; and when you have eaten and drunk and it is the cool of the afternoon , you come home . That is what Christians do . Who are they that meet at night ?