noon
When he had passed his tongue over his lips he responded : `` Yes . '' He drew the last curtain slowly . As he did so , his visage , sharpened by the dying light , was turned toward David ; his gemlike lips , without parting , seemed to say , `` Look ! it is the world of sky and trees , of sunrise and noon , sunset and night , that I am shutting out . '' The study lay in darkness . Through this darkness Hamoud moved silently toward the center table . He tweaked the lamp cord : a gush of mellow rays leaped out to cover the scattered piles of manuscript , the Venetian goblet , the bottle of medicine .