two o'clock
Having led a good life he would go to heaven , where he would have a pony and a thousand knives if he wanted them . The strain in the house , the excitement of Winona , the periodic , furtive weeping of Mrs. Penniman , the detached , uplifted manner of the chief figure , all confirmed him in this impression . Even Judge Penniman , who had been wont to speak of `` them twins , '' now spoke of `` that boy , '' meaning but the Wilbur twin . By two o'clock of the momentous Saturday afternoon the tension was at its highest . Merle , dressed in his Sunday clothes , trod squeakily in the new shoes , which were button shoes surpassing in elegance any he had hitherto worn . As Dave Cowan had remarked , they were as good shoes as Whipple money would ever buy him . And the new hat , firm of line and rich in texture , a hat such as no boy could possibly wear except on Sunday , unless he were a very rich boy , reposed on the centre table in the parlour .