noon
Here , he said to himself was the thing he had helped to create . Here was the town he had founded and cherished . Here were the people whom he really loved -- old neighbors , old friends , dear in associations and sweet in memories . It was in a cherubic complaisance with the whole scheme of the universe that the white-clad Doctor jogged up Elm Street behind his maternal sorrel in the phaëton , to get his noon day meal . He passed the Van Dorn home . Its beauty fitted into this mood and beckoned to him . For the whole joy of spring bloomed in flower and shrub and vine that bordered the house and clambered over the wide hospitable porch .