nine o'clock
Then it banged shut and The Laird was alone . The incident was closed . The impossible had come to pass . For the strain had been too great , and at nine o'clock on a working day morning , steady , reliable , dependable , automatic Andrew Daney having imbibed Dutch courage in lieu of Nature 's own brand , was , for the first time in his life , jingled to an extent comparable to that of a boiled owl . Mr. Daney 's assistant thrust his head in the door , to disturb The Laird 's cogitations . `` The knee-bolters went out at the shingle mill this morning , sir , '' he announced . `` They want a six and a half hour day and a fifty per cent .