nine o'clock
She was conscientiously building up her tired system , fitting herself for fresh endeavours ; she considered that her brief holiday had been given her for this purpose . Her health and capacity for work were the two assets which she could give to the war ; it was as much a matter of duty to nurse that capital and increase it as it was the duty of the engineers on a ship to keep the driving power of the vessel in perfect order . During her holiday the only form of war-work which she allowed herself to do , except the mechanical one of knitting , was to help at a railway-station canteen , which supplied free meals to all the soldiers and sailors who passed through . The aunt whom she was visiting had the entire responsibility for the free-refreshment-room for one of the shifts for two nights in the week ; her shift began at six and ended at nine o'clock . Punctually at nine o'clock another member of the canteen , or `` barrow-fund , '' as it was called , took the responsibility off her hands and kept it until two-thirty a.m. Margaret 's aunt asked her to take the place of a helper who had suddenly been telegraphed for to see a wounded brother ; who had just arrived at a hospital in Edinburgh . At the large station , a very important junction , the third-class ladies ' waiting-room had been given over to this energetic body of women war-workers , who had converted it into an attractive refreshment-room . Margaret was established behind the buffet in her V.A.D. 's uniform .