noon on Sunday
When Mr Cunningham made that remark , people were silent . It was known that the speaker had secret sources of information . In this case the monosyllable had a moral intention . Mr Harford sometimes formed one of a little detachment which left the city shortly after noon on Sunday with the purpose of arriving as soon as possible at some public-house on the outskirts of the city where its members duly qualified themselves as _ bona fide _ travellers . But his fellow-travellers had never consented to overlook his origin . He had begun life as an obscure financier by lending small sums of money to workmen at usurious interest . Later on he had become the partner of a very fat short gentleman , Mr Goldberg , in the Liffey Loan Bank .