noon
Their hands greeted like life-long friends . Drawing hers within his arm , he still kept hold of it , and her rounded shoulder softly pressed his , as they loitered out between the impenetrable sphinxes . The conservatory , however beautiful in itself and by association , was too small to hold their hearts at this moment . They passed on , and through the columns of the Moorish portico , into the fervent noon sunshine . Grasshoppers chirped ; fine buzzing flies darted swift circles and lit again ; birds giggled and gossiped , bobbing and swinging among swaying boughs . Battalions of vast green trees stood grand in shadow-lakes of cooler green , their myriad leaves twinkling light and dark . Tender gleams of river topped the enamelled bank , -- the further shore a slumbering El Dorado .