noon
Meanwhile there was in this loneliness at least a respite . Solitude ! -- he bathed his weary bones in it . He laved his eyelids in it , as in a woodland brook after the heat of noon . He sat on in calmest reverie till his hunger was satisfied . Then , scattering out his last crumbs to the birds from the barred window , he climbed upstairs again , past his usual bedroom , past his detested guest room , up into the narrow sweetness of Alice 's , and flinging himself on her bed fell into a long and dreamless sleep . By ten next morning Lawford had bathed and dressed .