twenty minutes
to one
She danced about the kitchen in her impatience , and began to think she understood something of the wickedness of those cities described in the Bible , which were destroyed by fire on account of their sins , and also of the state of the world before the Flood came . `` They were all like Maggie , '' she said to herself . `` I really never heard of any one before who was quite so hopelessly bad as Maggie . '' The kitchen clock pointed to the half hour , and even to twenty minutes to one . It was hopeless to think of pancakes now -- equally hopeless to consider the possibilities of a beef-steak pudding . They would be very lucky if they had steak in any form . Still , if Maggie came at once that might be managed , and nice potatoes , beef-steak , apple-tart and cream would be better than no dinner at all .