noon
`` I expect I shall find her in the drawing-room , '' Saxby remarked , and passed on . Christine saw him leave again about half an hour later . Then the sound of waltz-music within the closed house told that Mrs. van Cannan was beguiling away the rest of the long , hot morning in a favourite fashion . At noon , the heat , as usual , made the summer-house untenable , and its occupants were driven indoors . Lunch introduced the only excitement the quiet monotony of the day ever offered , when the men came filing into the soft gloom of the dining-room , bringing with them a suggestion of a world of work that still went on its way , come rain , come shine . All of them took advantage of the custom of the climate to appear coatless . Indeed , the fashion of shirts was sometimes so _ décolletée _ as to be slightly embarrassing to English eyes .