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 before). I am not certain of the remainder of the definition.
'a lady had come round about even' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'lady' could be 'rea' and 'rea' is present in the answer.
'had' could be 'd' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'd' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
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" .)