about noon
What will hasten his retreat is the news he has by this time received from Quebec . Last night , so soon as I had read the despatches which you brought me , I sent him one of my fleetest messengers with the intelligence . The messenger must have reached Sorel early this morning . The special messenger to Governor Carleton , with the same news , will arrive in Montreal about noon to-day . '' During the whole of this conversation , Hardinge 's face had been grave and almost downcast . But at the last words of his interlocutor , it suddenly flushed with an expression of enthusiasm . `` If Colonel McLean and Governor Carleton know exactly how we stand at Quebec , I am content , '' he exclaimed .