about seven o'clock
Pursuant to her resolution she received their congratulations with smiles , and answered their inquiries as to her health with thanks . It was a foggy , misty , drizzly day the precursor of a long spell of dark and gloomy weather , that Claudia at length grew to fear would never come to an end . During this time the monotony of Claudia 's life at the castle was really dreadful . And this was something like it : She would wake about seven o'clock , but knowing that it was hours too early to rise in that house , she would lie and think until she was ready to go mad . At nine o'clock she would ring for her maid , Sally , and spend an hour in dawdling over her toilet . At ten she would go down to breakfast -- a miserable , uncomfortable meal of hollow civility or sullen silence . After breakfast she would go into the library and hunt among the old , musty , worm-eaten books for something readable , but without success .