nearly eight o'clock
`` To-day , just on this day , '' said his mother . `` They all sent you their love , they waited for you . But it 's almost eight o'clock now . '' Wolfgang cast an involuntary glance at the clock on the mantel-piece -- right , nearly eight o'clock . But all that was immaterial now . And , staring straight in front of him as though his eyes were fixed on some object , he placed himself in front of the two . `` I have something to ask you , '' he said .