six o'clock
Caroline got things quite naturally while she lived at home -- 'Til da took the leavings always and patched , somehow , a thankful , beautiful life out of them . She 's going to get whole pieces of cloth from now -- '' he muttered , `` with Sandy thrown in . '' Perhaps it was the spring air ; perhaps it was the turn in the tide of Cynthia Walden 's life , but whatever it was it roused her and gripped her from early morning . At six o'clock on that May day she awoke in her shabby room of Stoneledge and looked out of the vine-covered window , heard a bird sing a wild , delicious little song , and then sat up with the strange thrill of happiness flooding her heart and soul . It was a warm morning , more like late June than late May , and both the bird and the girl felt the joy in the promise of summer . At nineteen Cynthia , like the spring morn , bore the mark of her coming fulfillment of beauty . She was very lovely , tall , slim , slightly bending , like a reed that had bowed to the wind instead of resisting .