about noon
He had saved the day , and she was proud of him . * * * * * They had a wonderful time , in spite of Pierre and his balky car , bowling along the winding , leafy roads not far from the sea , through little gray stone villages whose inhabitants turned out _ en masse _ , including children and animals , to witness their stately progress of ten miles an hour . They got stuck once in a ford and had to be fished out with three yoke of cream-colored bulls and a long ship 's rope . That was about noon , and they decided to lunch at the next inn , though it did not look inviting . However , Milly 's French coaxed a tolerable meal from the fat housewife whom they discovered cleaning fish in the kitchen , and even the stodgy Roy mellowed under the influence of fresh fish and a drinkable bottle of wine which he and Milly discovered somewhere . That evening , without further mishap , they rumbled into the hamlet of Poldau . For the last hour they had seen signs of the coming _ fête _ .