noon
exclaimed Grace . `` Doubtless it is so to you ; but to these people it is an act of affectionate remembrance , '' added the doctor ; `` as sacred and pious as any tribute we render to our loved and lost ones . '' Dr. Winstock continued to describe the various places through which the train passed , answering the many questions proposed by his interested auditors . At noon they arrived at Rennes , where the excursionists lunched , and some of them , perhaps at the expense of the inner man , were enterprising enough to see a little of the city , which contains forty thousand inhabitants , and was the ancient capital of the dukedom of Brittany . `` This is Laval , '' said the doctor , an hour and a half after the train left Rennes . `` See there ! '' exclaimed Grace , pointing to a man clothed in goatskins , the hair outside .