noon
_ In which the curtain rises on the Candy Wagon , and the leading characters are thrown together in a perfectly logical manner by Fate _ . The Candy Wagon stood in its accustomed place on the Y.M.C.A. corner . The season was late October , and the leaves from the old sycamores , in league with the east wind , after waging a merry war with the janitor all morning , had swept , a triumphant host , across the broad sidewalk , to lie in heaps of golden brown along the curb and beneath the wheels of the Candy Wagon . In the intervals of trade , never brisk before noon , the Candy Man had watched the game , taking sides with the leaves . Down the steps of the Y.M.C.A. building sauntered the Reporter . Perceiving the Candy Wagon at the curb he paused , scrutinising it jauntily , through a monocle formed by a thumb and finger . The wagon , freshly emblazoned in legends of red , yellow and blue which advertised the character and merits of its wares , stood with its horseless shafts turned back and upward , in something of a prayerful attitude .