twelve o’clock
General information , indeed ! Just as if she who had lived in London , gone to lectures , and travelled on the Continent , must not know more than these children cast up and down in a soldier 's life ; and as if her Fraulein , with all her diplomas , must not be far superior to a mere little daily governess , and a mother ! It was all for the sake of depreciating her . At twelve o'clock , to her further indignation , she found there was to be an hour of reading aloud and of needlework-actual plain needlework . The three girls were making under-garments for themselves ; and on Dolores proving to have no work of any sort , her aunt sent Gillian to the drawer , and produced a child 's pinafore , which she was desired to hem . Each , however , had a quarter of an hour 's reading aloud of history to do in turn , all from one big book , a history of Rome , and there was a map hung up over the black board , where they were in turn to point to the places mentioned . Before Gillian began reading , the date , and something about the former lesson was required to be told by the children , and it came quite readily , Valetta especially declaring that she did love Pyrrhus , which the others seemed to think very bad taste .