noon
`` First look on my wife , Hakim , and let her know in you the preserver of her husband . '' `` It is not for me , '' said the physician , folding his arms with an air of Oriental modesty and reverence , and bending his eyes on the ground -- `` it is not for me to look upon beauty unveiled , and armed in its splendours . '' `` Retire , then , Berengaria , '' said the Monarch ; `` and , Edith , do you retire also ; -- nay , renew not your importunities ! This I give to them that the execution shall not be till high noon . Go and be pacified -- dearest Berengaria , begone . -- Edith , '' he added , with a glance which struck terror even into the courageous soul of his kinswoman , `` go , if you are wise . '' The females withdrew , or rather hurried from the tent , rank and ceremony forgotten , much like a flock of wild-fowl huddled together , against whom the falcon has made a recent stoop .