nearly noon
she commanded with shrill magnificence , for all her hair and dress were awry , and her round face flushed . `` Leave the house . '' Hunch shrugged and obeyed . It was nearly noon and there was no single east-side acquaintance -- no , not even Link Murphy , the terrible -- whom he feared as he feared Carl Granberry . Weeping , Aunt Agatha watched him go . Diane was to learn that the infernal persistence of the Old Man of the Sea of Arabian origin could find its match in youth . A week slipped by .