ten o'clock
Perhaps it 's a special effort to impress the Freshers . She did n't take much notice of me , but I 'm coming with you all the same to buy fixings for my room , and hear the second-year auctioneer . Call for me when you 're ready , like a dear . I 'm off now to read until ten o'clock . '' Darsie shut herself in her room , and set to work at her burry with all the ardour of a beginner , so that the hour and a half passed like a flash , and it seemed as if she had scarcely begun before Hannah 's solid bang sounded at the door , and she went out into the corridor to follow Helen Ross to the Gym . The auction had already begun , and the auctioneer , a fresh-looking girl with grey eyes planted extraordinarily far apart , was engaged in extolling the excellencies of an aged kettle to a laughing circle of girls . She wore a black dress cut square at the neck , and a rose - coloured ribbon twined round her head .