noon
'' ` Oh , I do n't know what he 'd do , but I know he 'd do something . He 's that kind of a man . ' '' When the first days of the spring bass-fishing came , the Doctor coaxed Dan away for a three days trip to the river , beyond Gordon 's Mills , where the roaring trout-brook enters the larger stream . It was well on toward noon the morning that Dan and the Doctor left , that Miss Farwell found Deborah in tears , with Denny trying vainly to comfort her . `` Come , come , mother , do n't be takin ' on so . It 'll be all right somehow , '' Denny was saying as the nurse paused on the threshold of the little kitchen , and the crippled lad 's voice was broken , though he strove so bravely to make it strong . The widow in her low chair , her face buried in her apron , swayed back and forth in an agony of grief , her strong form shaking with sobs .