midday
Am I becoming more of a Christian , or less ? '' As though to learn an answer to his riddle he gazed fro he eyrie over the wide horizon , upon leagues of sea rising upward to blend their essence , under the magic touch of evening , with the purple dome overhead . The elements , as is their wont upon such occasions , gave forth no clear reply . None the less , while the moist south wind , shorn of the sting of midday , relaxed his pores and passed over his cheek like a warm caress , there exhaled from those limitless spaces a sense of joyous amplitude -- of freedom and exhilaration . And now , in the sunlit hour of dawn , he was bathing again . An excellent habit . It did him good , this physical contact with nature .