nine o'clock
Presently she heard the clock outside strike seven . `` Mother will be back now , thank goodness ! '' she thought . `` If I work desperately hard , and stop my ears so that I need n't hear a sound , I may have done by nine o'clock . '' Just at that moment two ladies came in to ask for a special sort of stationery . Susy , who was never in the least interested in the shop , did not know where to find it . She rummaged about , making a great mess amongst her mother 's neat stores ; and finally she was obliged to say that she did not know where it was .