noon
`` What can make him wish to avoid me ? '' Ralph wondered if he would meet Percy on the hill among the fashionable houses . But he saw nothing of the aristocratic bully , although he even left a circular on the Pagets ' front piazza . By noon the boy had gone through the entire town . Then , after taking lunch , he started on foot for Hopeville , a mile away . The road was uphill , leading directly from the lake shore . But soon Ralph was overtaken by a man in a farm wagon .