noon
The beating of her heart from the fury of the gallop had drained every hue from her face ; her voice was scarcely articulate in its breathless haste as she saluted him . `` Monsieur , I have come from Algiers since noon -- '' `` From Algiers ! '' He and his officers echoed the name of the city in incredulous amaze ; they knew how far from them down along the sea-line the white town lay . `` Since noon , to rescue a life -- the life of a great soldier , of a guiltless man . He who saved the honor of France at Zaraila is to die the death of a mutineer at dawn ! '' `` What ! -- your Chasseur ! ''