seven o'clock
`` You take my advice and pin him to it . The sooner the better -- eh , darling ? '' Ruth rose wearily . `` I see the pot boiling , '' she said with a glance at the fireplace , `` and I have been on horseback since seven o'clock . Mother , wo n't you give me food , at least ? I am hungry as a hunter . '' -- But this was very nearly a fib .