seven o’clock
And now I would ask my readers to join me at the morning table d'hôte at the Hotel des Ambassadeurs . It will of course be understood that this does not mean a breakfast in the ordinary fashion of England , consisting of tea or coffee , bread and butter , and perhaps a boiled egg . It comprises all the requisites for a composite dinner , excepting soup ; and as one gets farther south in France , this meal is called dinner . It is , however , eaten without any prejudice to another similar and somewhat longer meal at six or seven o'clock , which , when the above name is taken up by the earlier enterprise , is styled supper . The déjeûner , or dinner , at the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs , on the morning in question , though very elaborate , was not a very gay affair . There were some fourteen persons present , of whom half were residents in the town , men employed in some official capacity , who found this to be the cheapest , the most luxurious , and to them the most comfortable mode of living . They clustered together at the head of the table , and as they were customary guests at the house , they talked their little talk together -- it was very little -- and made the most of the good things before them .