noon
He watched her without stirring . Even to open his mouth or to smile would have seemed too much exertion . Thus he lay for hours . When at length noon drew nigh , it cost him a great effort of will to shake off his drowsy mood and exchange his airy costume for the conventional habilaments of the dining-room . He had taken lodgings in a fashionable hotel . An unusual stroke of good luck , hack-work that paid outrageously well , had made it possible for him to idle for a time without a thought of the unpleasant necessity of making money . One single article to which he signed his name only with reluctance had brought to him more gear than a series of golden sonnets .