noon
French soldiers in English red coats and carrying British flags were straggling along the roads to join the battalion at the volunteers ' camp three miles from the town , and singing : `` Brigadier , respondez Pandore -- Brigadier , vous avez raison . '' It was not less incongruous and curious when one group presently broke out into ` God save the Queen ' , and another into the ` Marseillaise ' , and another still into ` Malbrouck s ' en va t ' en guerre ' . At last songs and soldiers were absorbed in the battalion at the rendezvous , and the long dusty march to the village gave a disciplined note to the gaiety of the militant habitant . At high noon Chaudiere was filled to overflowing . There were booths and tents everywhere -- all sorts of cheap-jacks vaunted their wares , merry-go-rounds and swings and shooting-galleries filled the usual spaces in the perspective . The Cure , M. Rossignol the Seigneur , and the Notary stood on the church steps viewing the scene and awaiting the approach of the soldier-citizens . The Seigneur and the Cure had ceased listening to the babble of M. Dauphin , who seemed not to know that his audience closed its ears and found refuge in a `` Well , well ! ''