five
o'clock
Here she resumed her search , but it was not an easily rewarded one , and for an hour after her arrival she found no violets . She walked conscientiously over the whole stretch of meadow , her eyes roving discontentedly ; there was never a blue dot in the groomed expanse ; but at last , as she came near the borders of an old grove of trees , left untouched by the municipal landscapers , the little flowers appeared , and she began to gather them . She picked them carefully , loosening the earth round each tiny plant , so as to bring the roots up with it , that it might live the longer ; and she had brought a napkin , which she drenched at a hydrant , and kept loosely wrapped about the stems of her collection . The turf was too damp for her to kneel ; she worked patiently , stooping from the waist ; and when she got home in a drizzle of rain at five o'clock her knees were tremulous with strain , her back ached , and she was tired all over , but she had three hundred violets . Her mother moaned when Alice showed them to her , fragrant in a basin of water . `` Oh , you POOR child ! To think of your having to : work so hard to get things that other girls only need ; lift their little fingers for ! ''