noon
Things are bad on the Bourse , too -- going from bad to worse ! ... Really , it is all most distressing ! '' With a movement of sympathetic acquiescence , Juve said gently : `` I can not help it , Monsieur ! '' It was noon . Twelve was striking . Early in the morning of the day on which the meeting took place in the private office of the Under-Secretary of State , the proprietor of _ The Three Moons _ at Châlons was busy bottling his wine . Dawn was just breaking , and the good man had a spirit lamp in his cellar to throw light upon his task .