noon
Every door into the patio looked out upon dark , rich grass and sweet-faced flowers , and every window looked down the green slopes . Madeline 's rooms occupied the west end of the building and comprised four in number , all opening out upon the long porch . There was a small room for her maid , another which she used as an office , then her sleeping-apartment ; and , lastly , the great light chamber which she had liked so well upon first sight , and which now , simply yet beautifully furnished and containing her favorite books and pictures , she had come to love as she had never loved any room at home . In the morning the fragrant , balmy air blew the white curtains of the open windows ; at noon the drowsy , sultry quiet seemed to creep in for the siesta that was characteristic of the country ; in the afternoon the westering sun peeped under the porch roof and painted the walls with gold bars that slowly changed to red . Madeline Hammond cherished a fancy that the transformation she had wrought in the old Spanish house and in the people with whom she had surrounded herself , great as that transformation had been , was as nothing compared to the one wrought in herself . She had found an object in life . She was busy , she worked with her hands as well as mind , yet she seemed to have more time to read and think and study and idle and dream than ever before .