noon
`` You are my guest , Miss Mercer , not my prisoner . Please do n't act as if I were as great a villain as that . Losing your temper will not improve matters in any way , you know -- really it wo n't . As for your question , I think Bessie and Zara will be in the quite competent care of their old friend Silas Weeks by noon to-morrow and then there will be no further reason for keeping you here . '' `` Then , unless you are remarkably quick in getting out of the country , Mr. Holmes , you ought to be under arrest for kidnapping by to-morrow night . '' Holmes laughed . `` Oh , do let 's be friends ! ''