noon
I paid no further attention to the matter for the time being , and my soul went to converse amid the clouds with the soul of Madame Durmaitre . The next day a grand hunt was to take place in the forest . I had arranged to take no share in it , wishing to make the best of a whole day of solitude to push forward my hopeless undertaking . Toward noon , the hunters met in the court-yard of the chateau , which rang again for some fifteen minutes with the loud blast of the trumpets , the stamping of horses , and the yelping of the pack . Then the tumultuous crowd disappeared down the avenue , the noise gradually died away , and I remained master of myself and of my mind , in the midst of a silence the more grateful that it is the more rare on this meridian . I had been enjoying my solitude for a few minutes , and I was turning over the folio pages of the _ Neustra pia _ , while smiling at my own happiness , when I fancied I heard the gallop of a horse in the avenue , and soon after on the pavement of the court . Some hunter behind time , I thought , and , taking up my pen , I began extracting from the enormous volume the passage relating to the General Chapters of the Benedictines ; but a new and more serious interruption came to afflict me ; some one was knocking at the library-door .