noon
He perceived that the Herr Administrator did not set much store by well-cooked dishes , but swallowed down everything in the same indiscriminate fashion , and that , moreover , in a disagreeably repulsive way . One Sunday , when the Herr Administrator was dining at Master Wacht 's , as he usually did on that day , the latter began to heap up praises and commendations upon every dish which busy Rettel caused to be served up ; and not only did he call upon the Herr Administrator to join him in his encomiums , but he also asked him pointedly what he thought of various ways of dressing dishes . The Herr Administrator replied somewhat dryly that he was a temperate and abstemious man , accustomed from his youth up to the greatest frugality . At noon , for dinner , he was satisfied with a spoonful or two of soup and a little piece of beef , but the latter must be cooked hard , since so cooked a smaller quantity sufficed to satisfy the hunger , and there was no need to overload the stomach with large pieces . For his evening meal he generally managed upon a saucer of good egg and butter beaten up together and a very small glass of liquor ; moreover , the only other refreshment he allowed himself was a glass of extra beer at six o'clock in the evening , taken if possible in the good fresh air . It may be imagined what looks Rettelchen fixed upon the unfortunate administrator . And yet the worst was still to come .