eight o'clock
`` Well , we 're an eccentric family , '' I said wearily , `` and she 's the worst . '' At any other time the news would probably have excited my indignation , but as I sat there , in the wicker rocking-chair , by the nursery fire , I was too exhausted to resent any manifestation of the family spirit . The last week had been a terrible strain , and there were months ahead which I knew would demand the exercise of every particle of energy that I possessed . In the afternoon there was to be a meeting of the directors of the bank , called to discuss the advancing of further loans to the Cumberland and Tidewater Railroad , and at eight o'clock I had promised to work for several hours with Bradley , my secretary . To go slowly now was impossible . My only hope was that by going fast enough I might manage to save what remained of the situation . As the winter passed I went earlier to my office and came up later .