four o'clock
I do . `` I am going into Staunton with Uncle Ridley to put this in the office myself , so you will know it came right from me with a kiss on it . `` Good-bye , my dear , darling mama and sisters , `` Your own `` JEANIE . '' Mr. Dane had closed his office at four o'clock . Nobody cared why he did so , and when he informed his book-keeper that she could go home , she never stopped to wonder why , but wiped her pens , straightened her desk , got into her wrappings and went , with her mind fixed on a certain picture that needed much that these two vacation hours could give . It was snowing very hard , great blinding flakes that came whirling defiantly into your eyes , nose , and mouth ; almost preventing a necessary amount of sight and breath : and they had collected to such depth , that walking was a matter of much labor , and only a few plucky pedestrians were out to enliven the quiet shrouded streets . Olive plunged rapidly along with her head down and seemed more engrossed with her own thoughts , than with any contemplation of the weather , for she whisked the impudent flakes aside and seemed to be looking down at something that was neither of earth , earthy , or of snow , snowy , but quite beyond the realm of either .