four o’clock
Perhaps she felt it would serve her right , and that was the reason she was in such terror . WHEN Kate had left the train , she was still two miles from St. James 's ; and it was half-past three o'clock , so that she began to feel that she had run away without her dinner , and that the beatings of her heart made her knees ache , so that she had no strength to walk . She thought her best measure would be to make her way to a pastry-cook 's shop that looked straight down the street to the Grammar School , and where it was rather a habit of the family to meet Charlie when they had gone into the town on business , and wanted to walk out with him . He would be out at four o'clock , and there would not be long to wait . So , feeling shy , and even more guilty and frightened than on her first start , Kate threaded the streets she knew so well , and almost gasping with nervous alarm , popped up the steps into the shop , and began instantly eating a bun , and gazing along the street . She really could not speak till she had swallowed a few mouthfuls ; and then she looked up to the woman , and took courage to ask if the boys were out of school yet . `` Oh , no , Miss ; not for a quarter of an hour yet . ''