noon
` Seven -- to be counted with , ' corrected Selpdorf gently . ` The other , the eighth -- ' ` Has the initial fault of nationality . However , he goes to Sagan . ' The mist cleared as the sun rose higher until , by noon , the sky was of a pale radiant blue laced with a delicate broidery of white wind-scattered clouds . Looking westward the dark river wound away to the sea , ringed here and there by the highly decorated bridges of light-toned granite peculiar to Maäsau . Révonde , in the sunshine , shone in the colours of a moss-grown stone , gray and green , the twin ridges on which it stood fretted and embossed to their summits with the palaces and pinnacles , the spires and towers , and gardens of the spreading city . The Grand Duke , as they rounded the mounting road to the parade ground , looked back upon Révonde with a lingering glance .