noon
I have been in many a worse place than the market-place of Prague on that bleak November night , but never one which had a greater outward aspect of horror . Toward daylight , ashes and ruins replaced the fire , trembling terror and pale exhaustion , the frantic alarm of the people , and the quarter was saved . Through it all , I had Gaston Cheverny in my mind . I could not understand how he , an officer in Marshal Maillebois 's army , could be in Prague at all , but I had seen him in the glare of the blazing building as plainly as if the sun had been at the noon mark . In the gray of the dawn , I began to investigate concerning Gaston , but he could not be found . I thought it not strange that in so much danger , terror and confusion he had disappeared for a time , but I confidently reckoned on his being found within a few days . Next day , I put the official inquiry on foot , but there was no record of any such person having been in Prague .