noon
Autumn was already gone ; but the sun shone out now and then between the clouds and lighted and warmed the mild winter which had succeeded . We tried to deceive ourselves , and to say that it was still autumn , so much did we dread to recognize winter , that was to separate us . The snow sometimes fell in the morning in light flakes on the roses and everlastings in the garden , like the white down of the swans which we often saw traversing the air . At noon the snow melted , and then there were delightful hours on the lake . The last rays of the sun seemed to be warmer when they played on the waters . The fig-trees which hung from the rocks exposed to the south , in the sheltered coves , had kept their wide-spreading leaves ; and the reflection of the sun on the rocks imparted to them the splendid coloring and the warmth of summer evenings . But these hours glided as swiftly by as the stroke of the oars which served to take us round the foam-covered rocks that form the southern border of the lake .