the
midday sun
A wave of exultation rushed through her as she thought of this her great adventure , of this her freedom for at least a short while , and of the unknown quantity she was mixing into her portion of daily bread which , up to this moment , had consisted of the plainest , wholesomest , most uninteresting bun-loaf , not even resembling that extremely dull and unappetising cake named , I believe , Swiss roll , which hides its staleness under the glass case of Life 's shop window , lying fly-blown on the plate and heavily and unimaginatively on the digestive powers of those who consume it for the thin layer of jam to be discovered between its wedges of sullen dough . A soul-stifling mess to be found in the drab sideboards of most English households along with its sister made of a pastry so flimsy that it chokes , filled with a cream that is merely froth , the whole hiding its cheapness under an application of highly coloured paint essence , the consuming of which will prove as fatal as the Swiss roll . So she raised her hands to the grimy ceiling of the dirty waiting-room and whispered to the dust , the buzzing flies , and vivid ray of sunlight , `` Verily , and indeed I have burned my boats behind , or perhaps I should say my liner before me ! '' Jill , very fair indeed to look upon , and with seven-and-sixpence in odd money in her bag , stepped out bravely on to the road , scorched by the midday sun , with a curl at the corner of her mouth , a medley of disconnected thoughts in her madcap head , and a feeling of unromantic emptiness somewhere in the vicinity of her white leather waist belt . A wisp of a boy , clad in very dirty garments , shrilled the equivalent of `` Carry your bag , miss , '' in the Egyptian tongue , calling down the displeasure of Allah upon the foreign woman when she shook her head , and changed the heavy dressing-case to the other hand . Ismailiah is no place for a beautiful English girl to wander in unchaperoned , especially when out of respect to the slenderness of her purse she gets off the beaten track in search of a cheap restaurant . Indeed Jill was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable at the way the natives stared and even turned to look after her as she plodded on , so that it was with a feeling of relief that she espied `` Cuisine Francaise '' written across the window of a fairly clean-looking restaurant in a small street , into which place she turned , to be confronted by a fat , oily individual hailing from the Levant , who looked as though his business was anything but that of the kitchen .