noon
However , it was a fluke-shot , for I had the satisfaction of seeing her miss every one of the other five , except the last , which hit the black . That , however , was three weeks since , and now my hitting record is forty per cent. , and hers ninety-six -- most extraordinary : so that it is clear that this creature is the _ protégée _ of someone , and favouritism is in the world . * * * * * Her book of books is the Old Testament . Sometimes , at noon or afternoon , I may look abroad from the roof or galleries , and see a remote figure sitting on the sward under the shade of plane or black cypress : and I always know that the book she cons there is the Bible -- like an old Rabbi . She has a passion for stories : and there finds a store . Three nights since when it was pretty late , and the moon very splendid , I saw her passing homewards close to the lake , and shouted down to her , meaning to say ` Good-night ' ; but she thought that I had called her , and came : and sitting out on the top step we talked for hours , she without the yashmak . We fell to talking about the Bible .