noon
With his arm over the horse 's neck , the exile , who had returned to his birthright , stood silent a while , gazing out over the land on which his eyes never wearied of resting ; the glad , cool , green , dew-freshened earth that was so sweet and full of peace , after the scorched and blood-stained plains , whose sun was as flame , and whose breath was as pestilence . Then his glance came back and dwelt upon the face beside him , the proud and splendid woman 's face that had learned its softness and its passion from him alone . `` It was worth banishment to return , '' he murmured to her . `` It was worth the trials that I bore to learn the love that I have known -- '' She , looking upward at him with those deep , lustrous , imperial eyes that had first met his own in the glare of the African noon , passed her hand over his lips with a gesture of tenderness far more eloquent from her than from women less proud and less prone to weakness . `` Ah , hush ! when I think of what her love was , how worthless looks my own ! How little worthy of the fate it finds !