noon
At the gate of the kingdom of Paradise happily the afflictions of this life , even its desertions , are left behind and forgotten by those who go in and rest . When the gloom of the burial was nigh gone , on the ninth day after the healing , the law being fulfilled , Ben-Hur brought his mother and Tirzah home ; and from that day , in that house the most sacred names possible of utterance by men were always coupled worshipfully together , About five years after the crucifixion , Esther , the wife of Ben-Hur , sat in her room in the beautiful villa by Misenum . It was noon , with a warm Italian sun making summer for the roses and vines outside . Everything in the apartment was Roman , except that Esther wore the garments of a Jewish matron . Tirzah and two children at play upon a lion skin on the floor were her companions ; and one had only to observe how carefully she watched them to know that the little ones were hers . Time had treated her generously .