eight o'clock
But in Wensdale itself there was only a handful of thatched cottages scattered about here and there round the vicarage . Life was so regular and quiet there that you might almost tell the time without looking at the clock . When you heard cling , clang , from the blacksmith 's forge , and quack , quack , from the army of ducks waddling down to the river , it was five o'clock . Ding , dong from the church-tower , and the tall figure of Mr Vallance climbing the hill to read prayers -- eight o'clock . So on throughout the day until evening came , and you knew that soon after the cows had gone lowing through the village , and the ducks had taken their way to bed in a long uneven line , that perfect silence would follow , deep and undisturbed . In this quiet refuge Maggie 's baby grew up for seven years , under the name of Mary Vallance . She was now nine years old .