noon
`` All is well , O ! Most High , '' answered the Honourable Mary 's perfect treasure of a maid . `` Behold the gracious flower , upon whom it is my joy and honour to wait , changeth her mood one hundred times in the passing hour . She laughs at noon , and her pillow is wet with salt tears at night ; her feet , like lotus-buds , carry her hither and thither in the day , the dimness of her room sees her face downwards upon her couch . `` As unto a sweet rose she clings to her friend , the great lady , who forsooth is as pleasing as a well-cooked dish of the flesh of kid mingled with tamarind and rice ; but the rose mixeth not with other flowers , and about her heart rests thy most honourable picture . '' For some long time Hahmed stared unseeingly in front and then he spoke . `` Thou hast worked well , my daughter , even from the moment when thou didst take the place of the great lady 's white servant , to report to me upon the doings of the white man who strove to find my wife .