noon
When the ship came into port a week or two later , Mrs. Hamilton was one of the first passengers to land , and after careful enquiries and well-bestowed tips she was expeditiously conveyed by ticker-gharry -LSB- 1 -RSB- and sedan chair across the desert to the bungalow at Deira . She was considerably pleased on seeing that the white marble palace resolved itself into an ordinary white bungalow , but the garden , was unutterably lovely , and , as she saw in a moment , represented something quite unusual in cost and care . -LSB- Footnote 1 : Hired carriage . -RSB- It was just high noon when she arrived , and she thankfully escaped from the suffocating heat and glare of the desert into the cool shaded hall , and gave her card with a throb of spiteful elation to the butler . The Oriental servant read the name , and hurried with the card to his mistress 's room . On hearing of the arrival of the Mem-Sahib , Saidie descended from the upper room , where she had been lying in the noonday heat , and , pushing aside the great golden chick that swung before the drawing-room entrance , went in . Her dress was of the most exquisite Indian muslin that Hamilton could obtain , heavily and wonderfully embroidered in gold , and peacocks ' eyes of vivid deep blue and green ; her feet were bare , for Hamilton , in his revolt from English ways , had kept up Oriental traditions as far as possible in the clothing of his new mistress , and weighty anklets of solid gold gleamed beneath the border of her skirt .