noons
He cared for neither political nor fashionable life ; and as soon as he came to his inheritance , married a handsome , sensible daleswoman with whom he had long been in love . Then he retired from a world which had nothing to give him comparable , in his eyes , with the simple , dignified pleasures incident to his position as Squire of Sandal-Side . For dearly he loved the old hall , with its sheltering sycamores and oaks , -- oaks which had been young trees when the knights lying in Furness Abbey led the Grasmere bowmen at Crécy and Agincourt . Dearly he loved the large , low rooms , full of comfortable elegance ; and the sweet , old-fashioned , Dutch garden , so green through all the snows of winter , so cheerfully grave and fragrant in the summer twilights , so shady and cool even in the hottest noons . Thirty years ago he was coming through it one July evening . It had been a very hot day ; and the flowers were drooping , and the birds weary and silent . But Squire Sandal , though flushed and rumpled looking , had still the air of drippy mornings and hazy afternoons about him .