about noon
There 's a great deal to tell . -- Sincerely yours , THOMAS MICKLETHWAITE . ' Having no occupation for his morning , Barfoot went at once to the obscure little street by Primrose Hill where his friend was lodging . He reached the house about noon , and , as he had anticipated , found the mathematician deep in study . Micklethwaite was a man of forty , bent in the shoulders , sallow , but not otherwise of unhealthy appearance ; he had a merry countenance , a great deal of lank , disorderly hair , and a beard that reached to the middle of his waistcoat . Everard 's acquaintance with him dated from ten years ago , when Micklethwaite had acted as his private tutor in mathematics . The room was a musty little back-parlour on the ground floor .