noons
Then , suddenly , he found himself in the threshing yard . At this cool and tranquil hour , the immense yard , the vast circular paved court , slept too . It was so many years since grain had been threshed here that grass had sprung up among the stones , quickly scorched a russet brown by the sun , resembling the long threads of a woolen carpet . And , under the tufts of this feeble vegetation , the ancient pavement did not cool during the whole summer , smoking from sunset , exhaling in the night the heat stored up from so many sultry noons . The yard stretched around , bare and deserted , in the cooling atmosphere , under the infinite calm of the sky , and Pascal was crossing it to hurry to the orchard , when he almost fell over a form that he had not before observed , extended at full length upon the ground . He uttered a frightened cry . `` What !