noon
In the evening he went to the lumber office and Gordon Hart came over from the bank . The two men figured on jobs to be built , rows of workingmen 's houses , sheds alongside one of the new factories , large frame houses for the superintendents and other substantial men of the town 's new enterprises . In the old days Ben had been glad to go occasionally into the country on a barn-building job . He had liked the country food , the gossip with the farmer and his men at the noon hour and the drive back and forth to town , mornings and evenings . While he was in the country he managed to make a deal for his winter potatoes , hay for his horse , and perhaps a barrel of cider to drink on winter evenings . Now he had no time to think of such things . When a farmer came to see him he shook his head .