half
past six
The conditions had changed , but not so much as they had changed in the East and the farther West . The picture that the major drew of them in his own region was alluring ; it made March homesick ; though he knew that he should never go back to his native section . There was the comfort of kind in the major ; and he had a vein of philosophy , spare but sweet , which March liked ; he liked also the meekness which had come through sorrow upon a spirit which had once been proud . They had both the elderly man 's habit of early rising , and they usually found themselves together waiting impatiently for the cup of coffee , ingenuously bad , which they served on the Cupania not earlier than half past six , in strict observance of a rule of the line discouraging to people of their habits . March admired the vileness of the decoction , which he said could not be got anywhere out of the British Empire , and he asked Eltwin the first morning if he had noticed how instantly on the Channel boat they had dropped to it and to the sour , heavy , sodden British bread , from the spirited and airy Continental tradition of coffee and rolls . The major confessed that he was no great hand to notice such things , and he said he supposed that if the line had never lost a passenger , and got you to New York in six days it had a right to feed you as it pleased ; he surmised that if they could get their airing outside before they took their coffee , it would give the coffee a chance to taste better ; and this was what they afterwards did . They met , well buttoned and well mined up , on the promenade when it was yet so early that they were not at once sure of each other in the twilight , and watched the morning planets pale east and west before the sun rose .