nine o'clock on Monday
Evidently Jean Sawyer had told his sister that he admired a girl who could be useful as well as ornamental . What would the result be , he wondered . But on the following day Jane permitted the other three to do all of the work of the cabin while she idled hours away at letter writing to her many girl friends in the East ; finished her book , and started a bit of lace making which had been the popular pastime at the seminary . At nine o'clock on Monday the stage drew up in front of their stone stairway and the discordant sound from a horn seemed to be calling them , and so Gerald hopped down to receive from Mr. `` Sourface '' Wallace a packet of newspapers and letters . `` Oh , thanks a lot , Mr. Wallace ! '' the boy shouted , knowing that the stage driver was deaf , and then up the stairway he scrambled to distribute the mail . There was a letter for each of the Abbotts from their father and a tiny note inclosed from grandmother with good advice for each , not excluding Jane , whose lips took their favorite scornful curve when it was read .