noon
But it owed all its operative power to the character of the man who had adopted rather than invented it -- for the scheme had been suggested by a certain passage in the book of the Revelation . Without having read a word of Swedenborg , he was a believer in the absolute correspondence of the inward and outward ; and , thus long before the younger Darwin arose , had suspected a close relationship -- remote identity , indeed , in nature and history , between the animal and human worlds . But photographs from a good many different points would be necessary to afford anything like a complete notion of the character of this country schoolmaster . Towards noon , while he was busy with an astronomical class , explaining , by means partly of the blackboard , partly of two boys representing the relation of the earth and the moon , how it comes that we see but one half of the latter , the door gently opened and the troubled face of the mad laird peeped slowly in . His body followed as gently , and at last -- sad symbol of his weight of care -- his hump appeared , with a slow half revolution as he turned to shut the door behind him . Taking off his hat , he walked up to Mr Graham , who , busy with his astronomy , had not perceived his entrance , touched him on the arm , and , standing on tiptoe , whispered softly in his ear , as if it were a painful secret that must be respected , `` I dinna ken whaur I cam frae . I want to come to the school . ''