noon
Beside a well an immense elm covered half the courtyard with its shadow . In the background the building displayed the four windows of its second story , surmounted by a pigeon house . Pere Merlier 's sole vanity was to have this front plastered every ten years . It had just received a new coating and dazzled the village when the sun shone on it at noon . For twenty years Pere Merlier had been mayor of Rocreuse . He was esteemed for the fortune he had acquired . His wealth was estimated at something like eighty thousand francs , amassed sou by sou .