about eight o'clock
`` O , but , mamma , that was when they did n't grow , you know . '' `` Well , dear , I 'll let you dip in a rod by and by ; I ca n't stop now . '' Patty waited , but the `` by and by '' did not come . Mrs. Lyman seemed to have forgotten her promise ; and about eight o'clock had to leave the candles a few minutes to give Dorcas some advice about the fitting of a dress . Dorcas was to take her mother 's place ; but just as she started for the kitchen , there was an outcry from Mary , who had cut her finger , and wanted it bound up . `` It 's my by-and-by _ now _ , '' thought little Patty . There was not a soul in the kitchen to attend to those candles .