nearly eight o'clock
Now she had gained her point and tried New York , and so far , it seemed , with no better success . From small things to great , everything went against her . In such hours of self-searching she was ready enough to acknowledge her own mistakes , but they exasperated her less than the blunders of her parents . She was sure , for instance , that she was on what Mrs. Heeny called `` the right tack '' at last : yet just at the moment when her luck seemed about to turn she was to be thwarted by her father 's stupid obstinacy about the opera-box ... She lay brooding over these things till long after Mrs. Spragg had gone away to dress for dinner , and it was nearly eight o'clock when she heard her father 's dragging tread in the hall . She kept her eyes fixed on her book while he entered the room and moved about behind her , laying aside his hat and overcoat ; then his steps came close and a small parcel dropped on the pages of her book . `` Oh , father ! '' She sprang up , all alight , the novel on the floor , her fingers twitching for the tickets .