noon
`` Well , the end of it was that she pacified me , and we were as great friends almost as ever . I say almost , for I had my eyes upon her and that chap , and did not much like it . A week after my arrival there was to be a fair over at Ryde , in the Isle of Wight , and I asked Peggy whether she would go with me ; but she refused , saying that she was obliged to go to her aunt 's out at Limberhook , who was very old , and had sent for her , so I thought nothing more about the matter . Well , the day before the fair , as we were busy in the fore noon getting the timber out of the vessel , one of my shipmates , who went to the same house , says to me , ` I say , Tom , when I was at the Chequers last night , I overheard Peggy promise to go to the Ryde Fair with that Frenchified smuggling chap . ' '' ` Did you ? ' said I. '' ` Yes , ' replied he , ` and they agreed to start at twelve o'clock , just after the dockyard bell rang . I thought at the time it was just to give you the slip before you left the ship , and that she is turning you over . '