noon
Nothing , however , appeared to develop . The door remained closed , save for brief admissions of bread and market stuff from little boys on donkey-back or on a bicycle , all of whom were led willingly into conservation , but none of whom had been into the palace , and though Billy pressed as close to the door as possible when the boys knocked , he was only rewarded with a glimpse of the tiled vestibule and inner court . To the irate doorkeeper he protested that he was yearning to paint a palace court , but though he held up gold pieces , the man ordered him away in fury and spoke menacingly of a stick for such fellows . Now , however cool and fresh it was in the garden that Saturday , it was distinctly hot in the dusty street , and by noon , as Billy sat in the shade beside the palace door , eating the lunch he had brought and drinking out of a thermos bottle , he reflected that for a man to cook himself upon a camp stool , feigning to paint and observing an uneventful door , was the height of Matteawan . He despised himself -- but he returned to the camp stool . Nothing continued to happen . Travelers were few .