noon
Soignies itself was reached towards four o'clock , and still they had not met her whom La Boulaye expected . Here , in a state of some wonder and even of some anxiety , Caron made straight for the Auberge des Postes . Bidding his men dismount and see to themselves and their beasts , he went in quest of the host , and having found him , bombarded him with questions . In reply he elicited the information that at noon that day a carriage such as he described had reached Soignies in a very sorry condition . One of the wheels had come off on the road , and although the Marquise 's men had contrived to replace it and to rudely secure it by an improvised pin , they had been compelled to proceed at a walk for some fifteen miles of the journey , which accounted for the lateness of their arrival at Soignies . They had remained at the Auberge des Postes until the wheel had been properly mended , and it was not more than an hour since they had resumed their journey along the road to Liege . `` But did both the citoyennes depart ? ''