midday
She looked at the watch on her wrist , a platinum bracelet affair with an octagonal face that Dick had persuaded her to accept for a Christmas present by giving one exactly like it to Betty and Caroline . It was twenty-five minutes of five . Dinner was served every night promptly at half past six , and there was absolutely no preparation made for it , not so much as a loaf of bread ordered . Instead of doing the usual marketing in the morning she had sent Michael out for the things that she needed in the preparation of luncheon , and planned to make up a list of things that she needed for dinner just as soon as her midday duties in the kitchen had set her free . She thought that she would be more like Gaspard , `` inspired to buy what is right '' if she waited until the success of her luncheon had been assured . The ensuing events had driven the affairs of her cuisine entirely out of her mind . She was constrained by her native tendency to concentrate on the business in hand to the exclusion of all other matters , big and little .