noon
On summer mornings I used to rise early , to enjoy them alone ; on summer evenings , to linger solitary , to keep tryste with the rising moon , or taste one kiss of the evening breeze , or fancy rather than feel the freshness of dew descending . The turf was verdant , the gravelled walks were white ; sun-bright nasturtiums clustered beautiful about the roots of the doddered orchard giants . There was a large berceau , above which spread the shade of an acacia ; there was a smaller , more sequestered bower , nestled in the vines which ran all along a high and grey wall , and gathered their tendrils in a knot of beauty , and hung their clusters in loving profusion about the favoured spot where jasmine and ivy met and married them . Doubtless at high noon , in the broad , vulgar middle of the day , when Madame Beck 's large school turned out rampant , and externes and pensionnaires were spread abroad , vying with the denizens of the boys ' college close at hand , in the brazen exercise of their lungs and limbs -- doubtless _ then _ the garden was a trite , trodden-down place enough . But at sunset or the hour of _ salut _ , when the externes were gone home , and the boarders quiet at their studies ; pleasant was it then to stray down the peaceful alleys , and hear the bells of St. Jean Baptiste peal out with their sweet , soft , exalted sound . I was walking thus one evening , and had been detained farther within the verge of twilight than usual , by the still-deepening calm , the mellow coolness , the fragrant breathing with which flowers no sunshine could win now answered the persuasion of the dew . I saw by a light in the oratory window that the Catholic household were then gathered to evening prayer -- a rite , from attendance on which , I now and then , as a Protestant , exempted myself .