noon
Yet for the life of me I could not but doubt all he told me . He who could pass spring on to spring , summer on to summer , in the company of beasts so sly and silent , so alert and fleet as these hounds of his , could not be quite the amiable prince he feigned to be . I began to wish myself in homelier places . It seems that on the morning of the fatal spindle , he had gone coursing , with this Safte and Sallow and his horse named `` Twilight , '' and after wearying and heating himself at the sport , a little after noon , leaving his attendants , had set out to return to the palace alone . But allured by the cool seclusion of a `` lattice-arbour '' in his path , he had gone in , and then and there , `` Twilight '' beneath the willows , his hounds at his feet , had fallen asleep . Undisturbed , dreamless , `` the unseemly hours sped light of foot . '' He awoke again , between sunset and dark ; the owl astir ; `` the silver gnats yet netting the shadows , '' and so returned to the palace .