eight o'clock
When she marched by at seven forty-five they hurried a little with the tying of the hair bow , as they glanced out of the window . When she came by again , a little before twelve , for her hasty dinner , they turned up the fire under the potatoes and stirred the flour thickening for the gravy . Mrs. Brandeis had soon learned that Fanny and Theodore could manage their own school toilettes , with , perhaps , some speeding up on the part of Mattie , the servant girl . But it needed her keen brown eye to detect corners that Aloysius had neglected to sweep out with wet sawdust , and her presence to make sure that the counter covers were taken off and folded , the outside show dusted and arranged , the windows washed , the whole store shining and ready for business by eight o'clock . So Fanny had even learned to do her own tight , shiny , black , shoulder-length curls , which she tied back with a black bow . They were wet , meek , and tractable curls at eight in the morning . By the time school was out at four they were as wildly unruly as if charged with electric currents -- which they really were , when you consider the little dynamo that wore them .