midnight before
We can never dispose of such a cartload of stuff in a week if we do n't have the entire school to help us , '' cried Toinette , as she lifted one thing after another from the box . There is a saying that `` Ill news flies fast , '' but , in my humble opinion , it is as a stage-coach beside the Empire State Express when compared to the fleetness of good news . So it did not take long to start this bit like an electric fluid through the school , and what sort of `` Free Masonry '' filled in details so successfully I know not . It so happened that of the ten resident teachers but three were at home that evening ; the others having joined a theatre party going to town , and it would be midnight before they returned . Those at home were Miss Preston , Miss Howard , and , unfortunately , Mrs. Stone . Of the first two mentioned the girls felt small apprehension , for they understood them pretty thoroughly , but Mrs. Stone was an obstacle not so easily surmounted , and it seemed to them that she was never more ubiquitous . At nine-thirty Miss Preston had bade all good-night in an unusually solicitous manner , wishing each happy dreams .