noon
He had fancifully blended his life with the life of the crags ; he had deliberately planted himself there . During the earliest days of his sojourn in these pleasant surroundings , Valentin tasted all the pleasures of childhood again , thanks to the strange hallucination of apparent convalescence , which is not unlike the pauses of delirium that nature mercifully provides for those in pain . He went about making trifling discoveries , setting to work on endless things , and finishing none of them ; the evening 's plans were quite forgotten in the morning ; he had no cares , he was happy ; he thought himself saved . One morning he had lain in bed till noon , deep in the dreams between sleep and waking , which give to realities a fantastic appearance , and make the wildest fancies seem solid facts ; while he was still uncertain that he was not dreaming yet , he suddenly heard his hostess giving a report of his health to Jonathan , for the first time . Jonathan came to inquire after him daily , and the Auvergnate , thinking no doubt that Valentin was still asleep , had not lowered the tones of a voice developed in mountain air . `` No better and no worse , '' she said . `` He coughed all last night again fit to kill himself .