noon
If DeLancey were to die on him , he could n't sell those cigars in a hundred years . The tellers at the bank are good for fifteen minutes or so after DeLancey has bought his cigar ; he strolls in and gossips with them until his father begins to snort ominously in his little railed-off pen marked `` President . '' Cooney Simpson , the tailor , likes DeLancey , and they talk clothes for half an hour almost every morning . Then it 's noon , and this is his hardest problem , because every one goes to dinner at noon except the Payleys and Singers , who have luncheon at one . If DeLancey can find Sam Singer , he is all right . But Sam , who used to loaf enthusiastically with him , has rosy ideas about Mabel Andrews now , and he is working hard in his father 's bank and on the farms . It was a bitter day for DeLancey when Sam went to work .