noons
She pretended to pout , fidgeted in his arm , arched her neck . `` But how shall I know it , Amilcare , if I am not there ? '' `` By what I do to you when I return , dearest love , '' cried he ; and thereafter , speaking by signs , was better understood . They made Rome a day or two after that little tender and exchange of vows , having disembarked amid a crowd of clamorous Amilcares in rags -- she could see some dear trait of him in each ; trailed across the bleached marches -LRB- with the Sabine Hills like a blue hem beyond -RRB- ; caught the sun at Cervetri , and entered the dusty town by the Porta Cavalleggieri on one of those beaten white noons when the shadows look to be cut out of ebony , and the wicked old walls forbidden to keep still . The very dust seems alive , quivering and restless under heat . St. Peter 's church , smothered in rush mats , was a-building , the marble blocks had the vivid force of lightning ; two or three heretic friars were being hailed by the Ponte Sant ' Angelo to a burning in the Vatican ; Molly was almost blind , had a headache , a back-ache , and a heart-ache . Amilcare , who had fallen in with a party of lancers by the way , had ridden for a league or two in vehement converse with their lieutenant .