noon
There was no doubt that this kind of traveling had its advantages , and it appeared equally certain that I had earned a few days ' luxurious holiday , while , as the blue wreaths curled up , the towering pines outside the windows changed into the gaunt chimneys of smoky Lancashire . Then they dwindled to wind-dwarfed birches , and I was lashing the frantic broncos as they raced the hail for the shelter of a bluff , until once more it seemed to be autumn and a breadth of yellow wheat stood high above the prairie , while the rhythmic beat of wheels changed to the rattle of the elevators lifting in the golden grain . Here , however , roused by a scream of the whistle as the long train swept by a little station , I found that the pipe lay among feathery ashes on my knee , and an hour had passed , while I knew that under the touch of sleep my thoughts had turned mechanically into the old channel . It was toward noon when I left the cars at a station looking down upon a broad reach of sunlit river which wound past maples , willows , and a few clearings through a deep valley . Martin Lorimer and Alice met me on the platform , and his greeting was hearty . `` We have watched every train since we last saw you , '' he said . `` Alice , though she wo n't own it , has been anxious , too .