eight o'clock
And the prize cup grew clearer and nearer , to her mental vision . Hence the series of special baths and brushings . Hence , too , Laddie 's daily-increasing gloom . At eight o'clock on the morning of the show , the Mistress and the Master , with Lad stretched forlornly on the rear seat of the car , set forth up the Valley on the forty-mile run to Beauville . On the tonneau floor , in front of Lad , rested a battered suitcase , which held his toilet appurtenances ; -- brushes , comb , talcum , French chalk , show-leash , sponge , crash towel , squeaking rubber doll -LRB- this to attract his bored interest in the ring and make him `` show '' -RRB- and a box of liver cut in small bits and fried stiff . Lad blinked down at the suitcase in morose disapproval . He hated that bag .