about noon
I have just torn my hair and the rough drafts of several cablegrams on your account ! Sit down at once , and try the bacon , since , for a wonder , it is not burnt -- and , in passing , I had thought of course that you were . '' Instead , I took a drink , and went to sleep upon the nearest sofa . I was very tired , but I awakened about noon and managed to procure enough clothes to make myself not altogether unpresentable to the public eye . Charteris had gone already about his own affairs , and I did not regret it , for I meant , without delay , to follow up my adventure of the night before . But when I had come out of the Rue de la Casquette , and was approaching the statue of Gretry , I came upon a very ornately-dressed woman , who was about to enter en open carriage . I stared ; and preposterous as it was , I knew that I was not mistaken .