noon
`` Faugh ! '' The messenger withered him with his disdain . `` Well , now you 're informed . See to it that you are at the Secretary 's office before noon with the ten pounds surety into which you are obliged to enter . '' The pompous officer departed , leaving Nuttall in a cold perspiration despite the heat of the morning . He was thankful that the fellow had not asked the question he most dreaded , which was how he , a debtor , should come by the money to buy a wherry . But this he knew was only a respite .