noon
Lagroin chafed that he must play recruiting-sergeant and general also . But it gave him comfort to remember that the Great Emperor had not at times disdained to be his own recruiting-sergeant ; that , after Friedland , he himself had been taken into the Old Guard by the Emperor ; that Davoust had called him brother ; that Ney had shared his supper and slept with him under the same blanket . Parpon would gladly have done this work alone , but he knew that Lagroin in his regimentals would be useful . The sought-for comrades were often to be found together about the noon hour in the shop of Jose Lajeunesse . They formed the coterie of the humble , even as the Cure 's coterie represented the aristocracy of Pontiac -- with Medallion as a connecting link . Arches and poles were being put up , to be decorated against the feast-day , and piles of wood for bonfires were arranged at points on the hills round the village . Cheer and goodwill were everywhere , for a fine harvest was in view , and this feast-day always brought gladness and simple revelling .