noon
In the good old days she might have occasioned a siege of Troy or a battle of Actium . She was one of those women who make nations mad , and for whom a man of genius would willingly peril the empire of the world . So at least deemed Ferdinand Armine , as he cantered through the park , talking to himself , apostrophising the woods , and shouting his passion to the winds . It was scarcely noon when he reached Ducie Bower . This was a Palladian pavilion , situated in the midst of beautiful gardens , and surrounded by green hills . The sun shone brightly , the sky was without a cloud ; it appeared to him that he had never beheld a more graceful scene . It was a temple worthy of the divinity it enshrined .