Six o'clock
Time was very short now -- seconds flashed by , minutes galloped . Harmony stewed a chicken for supper , and creamed the breast for Jimmy . She fixed the table , flowers in the center , the best cloth , Peter 's favorite cheese . Six o'clock , six-thirty , seven ; Marie was telling Jimmy a fairy tale and making the fairies out of rosebuds . The studylamp was lighted , the stove glowing , Peter 's slippers were out , his old smoking-coat , his pipe . A quarter past seven . Peter would be near Vienna now and hungry .