noon
The change consisted in the appearance of strange faces of low caste , rather than in the disappearance of the high caste , chiselled , and otherwise beautified and beautifying features of Monseigneur . For , in these times , as the mender of roads worked , solitary , in the dust , not often troubling himself to reflect that dust he was and to dust he must return , being for the most part too much occupied in thinking how little he had for supper and how much more he would eat if he had it -- in these times , as he raised his eyes from his lonely labour , and viewed the prospect , he would see some rough figure approaching on foot , the like of which was once a rarity in those parts , but was now a frequent presence . As it advanced , the mender of roads would discern without surprise , that it was a shaggy-haired man , of almost barbarian aspect , tall , in wooden shoes that were clumsy even to the eyes of a mender of roads , grim , rough , swart , steeped in the mud and dust of many highways , dank with the marshy moisture of many low grounds , sprinkled with the thorns and leaves and moss of many byways through woods . Such a man came upon him , like a ghost , at noon in the July weather , as he sat on his heap of stones under a bank , taking such shelter as he could get from a shower of hail . The man looked at him , looked at the village in the hollow , at the mill , and at the prison on the crag . When he had identified these objects in what benighted mind he had , he said , in a dialect that was just intelligible : `` How goes it , Jacques ? '' `` All well , Jacques . ''