six o'clock
He speaks of it as his morning coffee ; and takes his breakfast at eleven , or half-past eleven , or even at twelve . This is a regular meal , with soup , meat , and wine . In England it would be called an early lunch . At six o'clock the Frenchman dines , and even the working man calls this meal -- which an English laborer would call supper -- his dinner . The Barclays ' meals , therefore , differed more in name than in reality from those of their neighbors . Louis and Philippe Duburg came in at five o'clock , but brought a message that their sisters would come in with their father and mother , later . Melanie was neither surprised nor disappointed at the non-arrival of her cousins .