noon
This garret , under the high Louis XIII roof , extended the full length of the house . The shutters of the place were seldom opened , and there was here , in consequence , almost perpetual twilight . The old things , belonging to a bygone century , lying there under the dust and cobwebs attracted me from the first day ; and , little by little , the habit of slipping up there with my Telemaque had grown upon me . I usually stole up after the noon dinner , secure in the thought that no one would dream of looking for me there . At this noon hour of hot and radiant sunshine , the garret , by contrast , was almost as dark as night . Noiselessly I would throw open a shutter of one of the dormer windows and a flood of sunshine poured in ; then I climbed out on the roof , and with elbows resting upon the sun-warmed old slate tiles overgrown with golden mosses , I would read my book . Around me , on this same roof , thousands of Agen plums were drying .