noon
But alas ! in the selection of the clothing for that adult locality scant provision seemed to have been made for a boy of Clarence 's years , and he was with difficulty fitted from an old condemned Government stores with `` a boy 's '' seaman suit and a brass-buttoned pea-jacket . To this outfit Mr. Peyton added a small sum of money for his expenses , and a letter of explanation to his cousin . The stage-coach was to start at noon . It only remained for Clarence to take leave of the party . The final parting with Susy had been discounted on the two previous days with some tears , small frights and clingings , and the expressed determination on the child 's part `` to go with him ; '' but in the excitement of the arrival at Stockton it was still further mitigated , and under the influence of a little present from Clarence -- his first disbursement of his small capital -- had at last taken the form and promise of merely temporary separation . Nevertheless , when the boy 's scanty pack was deposited under the stage-coach seat , and he had been left alone , he ran rapidly back to the train for one moment more with Susy .