midday
A spell had fallen upon him -- the spell of a Southern noon . It lulled his senses . It laid chains upon his thoughts . There was a long silence , broken only by the splash of the oars and by a steady flow of conversation on the part of the two Greek genii , who seemed impervious to the midday beams and entirely absorbed in one another . Mr. Heard opened his drooping eyelids from time to time to take pleasure in their merry play of feature , wondering dreamily what could be the subject-matter of this endless polite conversation . Both the old boatman and Mr. Keith were correct in their surmises . There was trouble in the market-place , serious trouble ; so serious that for the first time in five years -- ever since that deplorable scandal of the Irish lady and the poodle -- the Militia were being called out .