midday
This house , which furnished an excellent dinner and an absorbing mixture of types both American and European , was vaguely disturbing to her . It was plainly not of the old-time West -- the West her father had dominated in the days `` before the invasion . '' It was , indeed , distinctly built for the tourist trade , and was filled with all that might indicate the comfortable nearness of big game and good fishing . Upon inquiry as to the stage , she was amazed to hear that an automobile now made the journey to the Fork in five hours , and that it left immediately after the midday meal . This was still more disconcerting than the hotel , but the closer she came to the ride , the more resigned she became , for she began to relive the long hours of torture on the trip outward , during which she had endured clouds of dust and blazing heat . There were some disadvantages in the old stage , romantic as her conception of it had been . Furthermore , the coach had gone ; so she made application for her seat at once .