noon
It had been part of Little Bel 's good luck that she had succeeded in obtaining board in the only family in the village which had the distinction of owning a piano ; and by paying a small sum extra , she had obtained the use of this piano for an hour each day , -- the best investment of Little Bel 's life , as the sequel showed . It was a bitter winter on Prince Edward Island . By New Year 's time the roads were many of them wellnigh impassable with snow . Fierce winds swept to and fro , obliterating tracks by noon which had been clear in the morning ; and nobody went abroad if he could help it . New Year 's Day opened fiercest of all , with scurries of snow , lowering sky , and a wind that threatened to be a gale before night . But , for all that , the tying-posts behind the Wissan Bridge school-house were crowded full of steaming horses under buffalo-robes , which must stamp and paw and shiver , and endure the day as best they might , while the New Year 's examination went on . Everybody had come .