noon
The yellow sunshine warmed the brown surface of the city-wall , and lighted the hollows of the Etruscan hills . Longueville settled himself on the empty bench , and , arranging his little portable apparatus , began to ply his brushes . He worked for some time smoothly and rapidly , with an agreeable sense of the absence of obstacles . It seemed almost an interruption when , in the silent air , he heard a distant bell in the town strike noon . Shortly after this , there was another interruption . The sound of a soft footstep caused him to look up ; whereupon he saw a young woman standing there and bending her eyes upon the graceful artist . A second glance assured him that she was that nice girl whom he had seen going into the other inn with her mother , and suggested that she had just emerged from the little church .