midday
Laughing valleys and corn fields and white farmsteads among the trees . Now and then a village fête or wedding at which we played to the enthusiasm of the sober vested peasantry . Nights passed in barns , deserted byres , on the floor of cottages and infinitesimal cafés . Hours of idleness by the wayside after the midday meal , when the four of us sat round the fare provided by Blanquette , black bread , cheese , charcuterie and the eternal bottle of thin wine . It was rough , but there was plenty . Paragot saw to that , in spite of Blanquette 's economical endeavours . Sometimes he would sleep while she and I chatted in low voices so as not to wake him .