Noon
`` I saw that I could not even let a hussar accompany them , for the mere rattle of a sword would have sent them mad with fear . `` The cure was still looking at the dead man ; but at last he turned to me and said : '' ` Oh ! What a horrible thing ! ' '' Noon had just struck . The school-door opened and the youngsters streamed out tumbling over one another in their haste to get out quickly . But instead of promptly dispersing and going home to dinner as was their daily wont , they stopped a few paces off , broke up into knots and set to whispering . The fact was that that morning Simon , the son of La Blanchotte , had , for the first time , attended school .