noon
Not for many a day had I seen Leo look so vigorous and happy . Of late he had grown somewhat thin and pale , probably from causes that I have suggested , but now his cheeks were red and his eyes shone bright again . Ayesha also seemed joyous , for the moods of this strange woman were as fickle as those of Nature 's self , and varied as a landscape varies under the sunshine or the shadow . Now she was noon and now dark night ; now dawn , now evening , and now thoughts came and went in the blue depths of her eyes like vapours wafted across the summer sky , and in the press of them her sweet face changed and shimmered as broken water shimmers beneath the beaming stars . `` Too long , '' she said , with a little thrilling laugh , `` have I been shut in the bowels of sombre mountains , accompanied only by mutes and savages or by melancholy , chanting priests , and now I am glad to look upon the world again . How beautiful are the snows above , and the brown slopes below , and the broad plains beyond that roll away to those bordering hills ! How glorious is the sun , eternal as myself ; how sweet the keen air of heaven .