seven o'clock
No woman in the kingdom was a better judge of a dew carpet . Nature had in her time displayed before her thousands of those pretty fabrics , where all the stars of the past night , dropped to the dark earth , were waiting to glide up to heaven again on the rays of the sun . At Ravensham she walked regularly in her gardens between half-past seven and eight , and when she paid a visit , was careful to subordinate whatever might be the local custom to this habit . When therefore her maid Randle came to Barbara 's maid at seven o'clock , and said : `` My old lady wants Lady Babs to get up , '' there was no particular pain in the breast of Barbara 's maid , who was doing up her corsets . She merely answered `` I 'll see to it . Lady Babs wo n't be too pleased ! '' And ten minutes later she entered that white-walled room which smelled of pinks-a temple of drowsy sweetness , where the summer light was vaguely stealing through flowered chintz curtains .