four o'clock
returned Flossie blankly . But Hazel was fertile in ideas , and the play proceeded with spirit , owing to the lightning speed with which the maid changed to a coachman , and thence to a market-man or a gardener , according to the demands of the situation . Miss Fletcher , her spectacles well down on her nose , industriously searched out her references and made record of them , her eyes roving often to the white face that was fuller of interest than she had ever seen it . When four o'clock came , she went back to the house and returned with Flossie 's lap table , which she leaned against the tree trunk . This afternoon lunch for the invalid was always accomplished with much coaxing on Miss Fletcher 's part , and great reluctance on Flossie 's . The little girl took no notice now of what was coming . She was too much engrossed in Hazel 's efforts to induce Miss Fletcher 's maltese cat to allow Bernice to take a ride on his back .