noon
In his pocket was exactly $ 79.08 . This was to last him for less than forty-eight hours and -- then it would go to join the rest . It was his plan to visit Grant & Ripley on the afternoon of the twenty-second and to read the report to them , in anticipation of the meeting with Jones on the day following . Just before noon , after his encounter with Mrs. Gray , he came down stairs and boldly , for the first time in days , sought out Peggy . There was the old smile in his eye and the old heartiness in his voice when he came upon her in the library . She was not reading . Books , pleasures and all the joys of life had fled from her mind and she thought only of the disaster that was coming to the boy she had always loved .