midday
Her husband , discovering that English visitors sometimes ran over from Brussels to see the Hotel de Ville , never ventured out at all till evening . They had no friends and no society of any kind . The house , which stood secluded behind a high wall in its garden , was in the quietest part of this quiet old city ; no sound of life and work reached it ; the pair who lived there seldom spoke to each other . Except at the midday breakfast and the dinner they did not meet . Iris sat in her own room , silent ; Lord Harry sat in his , or paced the garden walks for hours . Thus the days went on monotonously . The clock ticked ; the hours struck ; they took meals ; they slept ; they rose and dressed ; they took meals again -- this was all their life .