eight
o'clock before
Betty screamed , Rosa groaned , and Glory laughed and looked up at Drake in her delight . When the coach drew up on the other side of the hollow , the bell was ringing at the Grand Stand as signal for another race , and the dark figure had disappeared . That morning , when John Storm went to take seven-o'clock celebration , the knocker-up with his long stick had not yet finished his rounds in the courts and alleys about the church , but the costers with their barrows and donkeys , their wives and their children , were making an early start for Epsom . There were many communicants , and it was eight o'clock before he returned to his rooms . By that time the postman had made his first delivery and there was a letter from the Prime Minister . `` Come to Downing Street as soon as this reaches you . I must see you immediately . ''