noon
So he talked on , and while he did so went to an iron chest that he unlocked , and thence drew out a parchment roll which he bade me take to my workroom and copy there . I did so , and found that it was an inventory of his goods and estates , and oh ! before I had done I wished that there were fewer of them . All the long day I laboured , only stopping for a bite at noon , till my head swam and my fingers ached . Yet as I did so I felt proud , for I guessed that my uncle had set me this task for two reasons : first , to show his trust in me , and , secondly , to acquaint me with the state of his possessions , but as it were in the way of business . By nightfall I had finished and checked the copy which with the original I hid in my robe when the green-robed waiting maid summoned me to eat . At our meal my uncle asked me what I had seen that day and I replied -- naught but figures and crabbed writing -- and handed him the parchments which he compared item by item .