midday
I was -LRB- at least , in my own estimation , and I hoped also in hers -RRB- the elegant man of the world , discoursing at ease on every fashionable topic , and , to my own amazement , parrying every thrust of her keen repartee , and sometimes sending her as keen in return . I think the situation had gone to my head . Certainly I had never before thought myself a brilliant fellow , but when I rose to make my bow to mademoiselle -LRB- and it was indeed a very grand one -RRB- , I hoped that even in her mind I would not suffer by comparison with any French gentleman , no , though it were the chevalier himself . I did not see mademoiselle again until the midday meal next day ; for all the morning I was busy with the men , making the difficult and dangerous turn from the Great River into the Ohio , past Fort Massac . Once in the Ohio , there was no surcease from hard work -- poling , paddling , or cordelling , sometimes all three together , to climb the rushing stream . Punctually at the noon-hour I presented myself at table , and again at supper , and my good star did not desert me . Quip and repartee and merry tale and polished phrase were all at my tongue 's end , and no one could have been more amazed than I at my own brilliancy .