nearly midday
`` Why ? '' But he only indicated the macquis with his whip , and made no further answer . Mademoiselle Brun said nothing , but presently , when the driver paused to rest the horses , she descended from the carriage and walked with Denise . It was nearly midday when they at last reached the summit of the pass . The heavy clouds , which had been long hanging over the mountains that border the great plain of Biguglia , had rolled northward before a hot and oppressive breeze , and the sun was now hidden . The carriage descended at a rapid trot , and once the man got down and silently examined his brakes . The road was a sort of cornice cut on the bare mountain side , and a stumble or the slipping of a brake-block would inevitably send the carriage rolling into the valley below .