an hour
before noon
`` It may not be , '' said Dick . `` What can he do ? He hath but a handful . Alack , if it were but to-morrow -- could I but keep a certain tryst an hour before noon to-morrow -- all were , I think , otherwise . But now there is no help . '' `` Well , '' concluded Lawless , `` an ye will stand to it for my innocence , I will stand to it for yours , and that stoutly . It shall naught avail us ; but an I be to hang , it shall not be for lack of swearing . ''