eleven o'clock
The house , which had been built at the end of the eighteenth century , stood in the middle of a huge square enclosure . It was perfectly unadorned , but the garden possessed magnificent shady trees and a chain of tanks fed by running spring water . It stood at the side of the road which leads from Orleans to Paris and with its rich verdure and high-embowered trees broke the monotony of that flat countryside , where fields stretched to the horizon 's verge . At eleven o'clock , when the second lunch bell had called the whole household together , Mme Hugon , smiling in her kindly maternal way , gave Sabine two great kisses , one on each cheek , and said as she did so : `` You know it 's my custom in the country . Oh , seeing you here makes me feel twenty years younger . Did you sleep well in your old room ? '' Then without waiting for her reply she turned to Estelle : `` And this little one , has she had a nap too ?