midday
When he left , Lee made no revelation of what had been said downstairs ; Savina accepted the situation as it had been exposed to her . `` I ca n't allow myself to think of a night here , '' she told him ; `` it will be a horror . '' She opened the slats of the long window shutters , and glowing bars of white heat fell in a ladder-like order across a blue wall ; the segments of sunlight were as sharp and solid as incandescent metal . In the cobalt shadow Savina was robbed of her vitality ; she seemed unreal ; as she passed through the vivid projected rays of midday it appeared as though they must shine uninterruptedly through her body . Lee considered the advisability of taking her for a walk -- there were , he had seen from the train , no roads here for driving -- but , recalling the insolent staring and remarks she had met , he was forced to drop that possibility . Weary from the prolonged wakefulness of the night , Savina made an effort to sleep ; and , waiting until she was measurably quiet , Lee went out . The heat was blinding , it walled him in , pressed upon him with a feeling of suffocation , as though -- between him and the freshness , the salvation , of any air -- there were miles of it packed around him like grey cotton .