nearly noon
A woman 's scream , as I live ! '' In order to explain the scream , it will be necessary to go back to the morning of the day on which this conversation took place . St Malo was looking its dingiest . A heavy rain had fallen during the night , and a mist clung to the muddy streets and grey walls till nearly noon . The little town , with its narrow thoroughfares and towering houses , was as gloomy as a city of the dead ; foul odours rose on all sides , and would have been unbearable but for the cool breeze which swept in from the Channel , driving the mists and fog before it . In one of the highest and most substantial houses two young women sat at the casement of an upper window . The house was a gloomy one , without adornment of any kind except an arched porch , over which was chiselled some motto , or emblem , that had become undecipherable from age .