midday
`` I have no books , '' answered John . That was a good reason . He could not visit the restaurants , for he had no money , and lived very quietly . At the midday meal he drank only water , and when on Sundays he and Fritz drank half a bottle of beer , they remained sitting at table half-fuddled and telling each other , perhaps for the hundredth time , old school adventures . The term crept along intolerably slow , uneventful and torpid . John perceived that , as one of the lower class , he could plod on thus far but no further . The economic question brought his plans to a standstill .