the midday sun
And , so long as she smiled , what mattered it if he cowered ? Had Homer never nodded , gentlemen , till it was past his bed-time , neither you nor I would ever have heard of it . If Betty had indeed affirmed that the housework to be done at The Shrubbery was nothing , she was guilty of hyperbole . All the same , the house was an easy one , and such labour as its upkeep entailed melted , beneath the perfectly organized attention of herself , Anne , and Lyveden , as snow beneath the midday sun . The three had more legitimate leisure than any three servants in England , and no residence in Europe was better kept . Mr. and Mrs. Bumble , of course , were in clover . It followed that Anthony Lyveden had much time to himself .