eight o'clock
No one in the world wrote such sweet letters as Bridgie , and how dear of her to time this one to arrive at the moment of all others when it was most desired ! Pixie gloated over it with sparkling eyes , kissed it , hugged it , poked at it with her fingers to discover exactly how many sheets it might contain , and finally devoured it and the bread - and-butter together in one long beam of delight . `` Littlest and dearest , do you want to see us all , and know what we are doing ? It is eight o'clock , and we have had three dinners in succession , each lordly male waiting until the other had finished his meal before he could resign himself to come indoors , and at the third coming Molly sent for me to the kitchen to give warning for this day month , which same I took smiling , for it 's never a bribe she would take to leave Knock Castle while an O'Shaughnessy was within its walls . It 's Pat that 's sitting at the table now , eating apples and cracking nuts as languid as if the day was his own , and Esmeralda frowning thunder at him because she wants the table to draw a sketch for the newest picture , which is to make all our fortunes yet . The Major is reading the newspaper , and groaning aloud at every comma , because the Government has no sense at all , and the only man who could put things straight is tied by the heel by half a dozen children . The dogs are sitting in a circle round Pat , watching every bite with such big , longing eyes , and myself writing on my knee by the fire , with the ink on the fender , -- looking threatening at the rug !