midday
`` The farmer from Lande had them in his basket . I asked him for them , and he gave them to me , the darling , for nothing , as an attention ! '' After two hours ' thought and care , during which Eugenie jumped up twenty times from her work to see if the coffee were boiling , or to go and listen to the noise her cousin made in dressing , she succeeded in preparing a simple little breakfast , very inexpensive , but which , nevertheless , departed alarmingly from the inveterate customs of the house . The midday breakfast was always taken standing . Each took a slice of bread , a little fruit or some butter , and a glass of wine . As Eugenie looked at the table drawn up near the fire with an arm-chair placed before her cousin 's plate , at the two dishes of fruit , the egg-cup , the bottle of white wine , the bread , and the sugar heaped up in a saucer , she trembled in all her limbs at the mere thought of the look her father would give her if he should come in at that moment . She glanced often at the clock to see if her cousin could breakfast before the master 's return .