noon
Even the ladies in the house came out to exclaim over him , and Marian Devant , pretty , eighteen , and a sportswoman , stooped down , caught his head between her hands , looked into his fine eyes , and wished him `` Good luck , old man . '' In the living room men laughingly drank toasts to his future , and from the high-columned front porch Marian Devant waved him good-bye as he was driven off to the station , a bewildered young dog in a padded crate . Two days and two nights he travelled . At noon of the third , at a dreary railroad station in a vast prairie country , he was lifted , crate and all , off the train . A man , tall , lean , pale-eyed , came down the platform toward him . `` Some beauty here , Mr. Larsen , '' said the station agent . `` Yes , '' drawled Larsen in a meditative , sanctimonious voice .