noon
This was poor Adeline 's favourite recreation , if recreation it might be called . She rejoiced to escape from the gloomy walls of her castellated prison , and to enjoy the sunshine and the sweets of that voluptuous climate without the fatigue which of late all exercise occasioned her . It was a gallantry on the part of Montreal , who foresaw how short an interval might elapse before the troops of Rienzi besieged his walls ; and who was himself no less at home in the bower than in the field . As they reclined within the pavilion -- the lover and his lady , -- of the attendants without , some lounged idly on the beach ; some prepared the awning of a pleasure-boat against the decline of the sun ; some , in a ruder tent , out of sight in the wood , arranged the mid-day repast ; while the strings of the lute , touched by Montreal himself with a careless skill , gave their music to the dreamy stillness of the noon . While thus employed , one of Montreal 's scouts arrived breathless and heated at the tent . `` Captain , '' said he , `` a company of thirty lances completely armed , with a long retinue of squires and pages , have just quitted Terracina . Their banners bear the two-fold insignia of Rome and the Colonna . ''