noon
He handed me the implement , and sadly went his way . M. Flamaran and I sat down together on the bank , our feet resting on the soft sand strewn with dead branches . Before us spread the little pool I have mentioned , a slight widening of the stream of the Bievre , once a watering-place for cattle . The sun , now at high noon , massed the trees ' shadow close around their trunks . The unbroken surface of the water reflected its rays back in our eyes . The current was barely indicated by the gentle oscillation of a few water-lily leaves . Two big blue dragonflies poised and quivered upon our floats , and not a fish seemed to care to disturb them .