noon
An amiable woman would now and then make a remark , easily jocular . Another amiable woman -- soothing presences , both -- would answer . Or he would answer ; there would be an interlude of familiar talk , rest , and laughing , and throwing a ball for a scampering puppy . At noon an end to labor . He would remain for lunch , that meal of cheery luxury , immorally abundant . After it he would still linger in this house , bright and warm with fires , smoking cigarettes in a chair as luxuriously soft as those curling clouds on which are seen throning the gods in ceiling frescos , and grow further day by day into the intimacy of the amiable women . In full afternoon they would ask him if he would go out with them in their carriage , take an airing , and return for dinner ; or , if he obstinately declined , might they set him down somewhere .