noon
`` In sending your pigs , I hope you also get rid of your bores , Alec , '' put in Felix , and Nesimir , who knew no English , wondered why so many of his guests laughed . As for the elder Delgrado , he sulked until the President produced a bottle of imperial tokay , a luxury which the stout Sergius explained away by the statement that his house had never before been honored by so distinguished and brilliant a company . So Joan was prepared for her lover 's departure from Delgratz soon after daybreak . The heat of the noon hours was so excessive that early rising became more of a necessity than a virtue ; hence her appearance on the veranda . Alec had definitely promised his mother before retiring to rest that he would not dispense with an escort until the city was thoroughly quieted down after the day 's excitement . The troopers paraded at six o'clock , and he did not keep them waiting a minute . Joan , delighting in the military display , watched him mount and ride off with that half-maternal solicitude which is the true expression of a woman 's love .