nearly noon
`` Everything is written . But we are tricked into a semblance of vigorous life and energy by our great delusion that we possess free will . '' He sat down beneath a cypress and remained quite still , looking downward towards the water , downward along the path by which , if Rosamund came , she would ascend the hill towards him . It was nearly noon when he saw below him on this path the figure of a woman walking slowly . She was followed by a man . Dion got up . He could not really see who this woman was , but he knew who she was .