noon
`` Allah increase thy wealth ! '' said Sarah hastily , fearing the story she had heard a thousand times . Years ago the respectable Abdullah had been no better than a sot and wastrel , having contracted the habit of drunkenness at Port Said , where he spent three years as porter in a small hotel . He had squandered all his savings and had drunk himself to the verge of madness , when one summer night , as he lay on the floor of his house -LRB- as he himself expressed it -RRB- `` between drunk and sober , '' the Mother of God appeared to him , `` all white and blinding like the sand at noon . '' The vision , after gazing on him a space , stretched out its hand and vanished . That was all . But Abdullah arose with new heart .