seven o'clock
`` I am glad to hear that , sir , '' said Ferdinand , with rather more dryness than was needed . His lordship walked on again , and the young man lingered behind . The household ways at the Hall were simple , and the hours kept there were early . It was not yet seven o'clock when Ferdinand , having already eaten his lonely dinner , strolled down the drive , cigar in month , bound for old Fuller 's garden . He thought less of electioneering and less of music than of the pretty girl he had discovered yesterday . She interested him a little , and piqued him a little . Without being altogether a puppy , he was well aware of his own advantages of person , and was accustomed to attribute to them a fair amount of his own social successes .