four o'clock
The regular methodical days , in which every hour was mapped out , had a deadening effect on one who had been used to constant variety , and except for a difference in the arrangement of classes there seemed no distinction between one and the other . She was a machine wound up to work steadily from Monday morning until Friday night , and absurdly ready to run down when the time was over . Every morning after breakfast she started forth with Miss Rhodes , by foot if the weather were fine , by Tube if wet ; every mid-day she dined in the Staff-Room with the fifteen other mistresses , and gulped down a cup of chicory coffee . At four o'clock the mistresses met once more for tea , a free meal this time , supplemented by an occasional cake which one of the fifteen provided for the general good . At five she and her table companion returned to their rooms , and rested an hour before taking the evening meal . Claire was sufficiently French to be intolerant of badly cooked food , and instead of resigning herself to eat and grumble , after the usual habit of lodging-house dwellers , resolutely set to work to improve the situation . The coffee machine had now a chafing-dish as companion , and it was a delightful change of work to set the two machines to work to provide a dainty meal .