noon
`` Sun hot ! '' he retorted . `` Jeanne is lazy , that is it ! _ Mon Dieu _ , that I should have married a wife who is tired by noon ! I had better have left you to that never-do-well Pierre Bounat . But I have news for you , my girl . '' He lounged after her as he spoke , his low cunning face -- the face of the worst kind of French peasant -- flickering with cruel pleasure , as he saw how she winced at the name he had mentioned .