noon
He was already in the middle of it ; his eyes were fixed upon the flaming disc . It is doubtful if he saw anything or anyone on this earth ; it is substantially certain that he did not see a stunted , round-faced priest who , in the crowd below , looked up at him with blinking eyes . That was perhaps the most startling difference between even these two far divided men . Father Brown could not look at anything without blinking ; but the priest of Apollo could look on the blaze at noon without a quiver of the eyelid . `` O sun , '' cried the prophet , `` O star that art too great to be allowed among the stars ! O fountain that flowest quietly in that secret spot that is called space . White Father of all white unwearied things , white flames and white flowers and white peaks .