about noon
when shall I improve ? '' `` Do n't improve too much , '' she said , smiling . And then he went away . M. Moriaz returned to the hotel about noon : his guide being engaged elsewhere , he had taken only a short ramble . After breakfast his daughter proposed to him that he should go down with her to the banks of the lake . They made the descent , which is not difficult . This pretty piece of water , that has been falsely accused of resembling a shaving-dish , is said to be not less than a mile in length .