midday
* * * * * What really happened in Silvertree that day changed , as it happened , the course of Kate 's life . Sorrow came to her afterward , disappointment , struggle , but never so heavy and dragging a pain as she knew that Christmas Day . She had been trying in many unsuspected ways to relieve her father 's grim misery , -- a misery of which his gaunt face told the tale , -- and although he had said that he wished for `` no flubdub about Christmas , '' she really could not resist making some recognition of a day which found all other homes happy . When the doctor came in for his midday meal , Kate had a fire leaping in the old grate with the marble mantel and a turkey smoking on a table which was set forth with her choicest china and silver . She had even gone so far as to bring out a dish distinctly reminiscent of her mother , -- the delicious preserved peaches , which had awaked unavailing envy in the breasts of good cooks in the village . There was pudding , too , and brandy sauce , and holly for decorations . It represented a very mild excursion into the land of festival , but it was too much for Dr. Barrington .