noon
No doubt my improvements and renovations had been the subject of gossip in the neighborhood , and he had come over to see if he could find out anything definite in regard to the object of them . He had succeeded , but he had done more : he had nerved me to instantly begin the conquest of Agnes , whether by diplomacy or war . I was so anxious to begin this conquest that I could scarcely wait for the evening to come . At the noon hour , when the ice-works were deserted , I walked down the shaft and into the ice-chamber to see what had been done since my last visit . I decided to insist that operations upon a larger scale should be immediately begun , in order that I might have plenty of money with which to carry on my contemplated campaign . Whether it was one of peace or war , I should want all the money I could get . I took with me a lantern and went around the chamber , which was now twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter , examining the new inroads which had been made upon its walls .