half past eight
One might have heard in it the low laughter of Fortune on the watch . `` You do have the oddest ways , '' said Nora , perched at the foot of her cousin 's bed ; `` why do you stay in bed to breakfast ? '' `` Because I always have -- and because it 's the proper and reasonable thing to do , '' said Constance defiantly . `` Your English custom of coming down at half past eight to eat poached eggs and bacon is perfectly detestable . '' She waved her teaspoon in Nora 's face , and Nora reflected -- though her sunburnt countenance was still severe -- that Connie was never so attractive as when , in the freshest of white dressing-gowns , propped among the lace and silk of her ridiculous pillows and bedspreads , she was toying with the coffee and roll which Annette brought her at eight o'clock , as she had been accustomed to bring it since Connie was a child . Mrs. Hooper had clearly expressed her disapproval of such habits , but neither Annette nor Connie had paid any attention . Annette had long since come to an understanding with the servants , and it was she who descended at half past seven , made the coffee herself , and brought up with it the nearest thing to the morning rolls of the Palazzo Barberini which Oxford could provide -- with a copy of _ The Times _ specially ordered for Lady Constance .