seven in the evening
`` Fancy starch '' was Martin 's nightmare , and it was Joe 's , too . It was `` fancy starch '' that robbed them of their hard-won minutes . They toiled at it all day . At seven in the evening they broke off to run the hotel linen through the mangle . At ten o'clock , while the hotel guests slept , the two laundrymen sweated on at `` fancy starch '' till midnight , till one , till two . At half-past two they knocked off . Saturday morning it was `` fancy starch , '' and odds and ends , and at three in the afternoon the week 's work was done .