midday
`` I used to think that you spent more time than was necessary in reading over accounts of battles and sieges , but I see that the time was well spent . You may be sure that I will be with you at seven tomorrow morning , '' he added as Hector rose to leave , `` though I expect I shall have a heavy night of it here , for there will scarcely be a man in the regiment who wo n't come round and stay to hear the news . I warrant that by this evening there will not be a sou remaining out of the money you have left for them . '' Hector arrived at the hotel just in time for the midday meal , and was pleased to find that Conde himself was not present . He and his two companions were placed at different points at the great table , so that as many as possible could hear the story of the battle . After the meal was over , Hector was glad to leave the salon , and in company with a gentleman of the household , who had volunteered to be his guide , spent the afternoon in visiting the principal sights of Paris , of which he had seen but little when a boy in barracks . The hotels of the nobles , each a fortress rather than a private building , interested him greatly , as also the streets in which the principal traders lived ; but he was unfavourably impressed with the appearance of the population in all other parts , and could well understand what his guide told him , that it was dangerous in the extreme for a gentleman unattended to pass through these quarters .