twelve o'clock
It made her feel so to see Ben , with his long neck , that she got her mother 's permission to spend the night with the friend in whose grounds the picnic was to be held . She carried baskets of chocolate creams , and she found numbers of the girls , who had not eaten any , who were delighted with them , and promised to come the next day , to buy and carry away any amount of them . She began to grow more cheerful , though she felt no appetite , and instead of eating everything , as she always did at picnics , she could not even touch Mattie Somers 's cream-pie nor Julia Dale 's doughnuts . She stayed as late as she could at her friend Mattie 's ; but she felt she must get home in time for her third wish , at twelve o'clock . Would it be necessary for her to wish that Ben Sykes 's neck should be made shorter ? She hoped she might find that it had grown shorter in the night ; then she could do as she pleased about her third wish . She still clung to the desire for the chariot and four .