noon
`` Where have you been ? '' `` Where have I been , Cousin Aline ? Oh ... seeing the world . '' `` I have been patrolling this road since noon to-day waiting for you . '' She spoke breathlessly , in haste to explain . `` A troop of the marechaussee from Rennes descended upon Gavrillac this morning in quest of you . They turned the chateau and the village inside out , and at last discovered that you were due to return with a horse hired from the Breton arme .