noon
`` Nothing , nothing at all , Mohammed , except that it is sometimes dangerous to allow one 's happiness to be observed . Bear this in mind , my friend , and draw a veil over your radiant countenance . '' In Praousta , all was again uproar and confusion . Eight eunuchs of the mighty pacha , Cousrouf , accompanied by a detachment of twelve soldiers , came down from Cavalla at noon . They went directly to the house of the sheik , and demanded to see him . Djumeila , her eyes red with weeping , came to the door and told them her master was ill with grief and anxiety on account of the disappearance of his daughter . The eunuchs pushed her aside , and penetrated , in spite of her cries and attempts to bar their passage , into the room where the sheik lay on his divan , with pallid face and staring gaze .