A lady had come round about even before that (7)
I believe the answer is:
already
'before that' is the definition.
'already' can be an answer for 'before' (I've seen this in another clue). I'm unsure of the remainder of the definition.
'a lady had come round about even' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'lady' could be 'rea' and 'rea' is found in the answer.
'had' could be 'd' (in contractions e.g. 'I'd', 'you'd' etc) and 'd' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for already that I've seen before include "As early as this, so soon?" , "Even this soon" , "Indication of impatience (US)" , "By the time in question" , "earlier than might have been expected" .)