half
past seven
`` I 'm sure of it . '' `` You see , my dear , I 've understood the situation from the very first . '' `` You sweet old simpleton , of course you have ! But here it is half past seven , and you have n't begun to dress . Be off with you . '' Although , at first , I had felt it would be all but impossible for me to attend Mrs. Porter 's dinner , my talk with Blakely had so raised my spirits that now I was able to face the ordeal with something very like serenity . What did it matter ?