noon
`` I have not asked anything unreasonable , Charley , '' replied Christy , sensitive as usual in regard to influential assistance . `` Certainly not ; but if I had asked to have your Confederate friends paroled , a thousand yards of red tape would have to be expended before it could be done , '' added the engineer with a laugh . They reached the station , and discharged the carriage ; but they found they had to wait two hours for a train to Bonnydale . As it was after noon , they went to a hotel for dinner , and passed the time very impatiently in waiting for the train . Both of them were burning with the desire to see their friends at home ; but the train started in due time , and they left it at the nearest station to Bonnydale , proceeding there in a carriage . Christy gave the bell a very vigorous pull , and the servant that came to the door was a stranger to him . He wished to see Mrs. Passford ; and the man was about to conduct him to the reception room , when he bolted from him .