eleven o'clock
Of course , everybody knows Mert 's just dying to hog Uncle Tony 's business along with his shop , as if the stingy thing was n't rich enough already . Well , when Mert heard about that ten-cent mistake he said it was about time there were a few business changes in Green Valley , that a few business funerals would help a lot and freshen up things ; that Uncle Tony was no business man , and a lot of that sort of stuff . And of course Hughey Mason , being a smart Aleck , pipes up and says , ` That 's so , Uncle Tony is no business man . Why , Tom Hall says that when you find Uncle Tony 's emporium locked at eleven o'clock of a winter morning you can bet your bottom dollar Uncle Tony 's home shaking down the furnace , and if it 's closed at four of a summer afternoon Uncle Tony 's sneaked off home to mow the lawn . ' `` Well , those idiots and old hypocrites were talking just like that , goodness knows how long . They never took the trouble to see if Uncle Tony was really around or not . But all of a sudden I looked around the corner of the middle row of shelves and there was that poor old man sitting as still as death in his cashier 's cage and looking sick to death .