noon
The Admiral , who happened by the merest chance to be sauntering along the Station Road this morning , in his best blue frock-coat with a flower in the buttonhole , corrected some of the rumours , but without much success . Finding the throng so thick , he held a long debate between curiosity and dignity . The latter won , and he returned to No. 2 , Alma Villas , in a flutter , some ten minutes before the train was due . By noon the crowd was growing impatient . But hardly had the church clock chimed the hour when the shriek of a whistle was heard from up the valley . Amid wild excitement a puff of white smoke appeared , then another , and finally the mid-day train steamed serenely into the station . As it drew up , a mild spectacled face appeared at the window of a first-class carriage , and asked -- `` Is this Troy ? ''