noon
So coldly did he look at me that I began to doubt if he really were the man we had met ; but the events of this morning have changed my mind utterly on that point . He was the one we had met , and I am now convinced that his story to me of his double was purely fictitious , and that from beginning to end there has been but one Barker . `` The trial was a speedy one . There was nothing to be said in behalf of the prisoner , and within five days of his arraignment he was convicted and sentenced to the extreme penalty -- that of hanging -- and noon to-day was the hour appointed for the execution . I was to have gone to Richmond to-day by coach , but since Barker 's trial I have been in a measure depressed . I have grown to dislike the man as thoroughly as did you , and yet I was very much affected by the thought that he was finally to meet death upon the scaffold . I could not bring myself to participate in any pleasures on the day of his execution , and in consequence I gave up my Richmond journey and remained all morning in my lodgings trying to read .