noon
I discoursed to her in the very courtliest fashion of cows and pullets and such other matters as interesting to her as they were mysterious to me . I questioned her in a breath touching her father 's pigs and the swain she loved best in that little township , to all of which she answered me with a charming wit , which would greatly divert you did I but recall her words sufficiently to set them down . In five minutes we had become the best friends in the world , which was attested by the protecting arm that I slipped around her waist , as I asked her whether she loved that village swain of hers better than she loved me , and refused to believe her when she answered that she did . Outside two men were talking , one calling for a farrier , and when informed that the only one in the village was absent and not likely to return till noon , demanding relays of horses . The other -- probably the hostler -- answered him that the Connétable was not a post-house and that no horses were to be had there . Then a woman 's voice , sweet yet commanding , rose above theirs . `` Very well , Guilbert , '' it said .