four
o'clock before
She felt more and more lonely , too . She resolved that after she had washed up the dinner dishes and changed her dress , she would go over to Loretta Adams 's . It was quite a piece of work , washing the dinner dishes , there were so many pans and kettles ; it was the middle of the afternoon when she finished . Then Ann Mary put on her best plaid dress , and tied her best red ribbons on her braids , and it was four o'clock before she started for Loretta 's . Loretta lived in a white cottage about half a mile away towards the village . The front yard had many bushes in it , and the front path was bordered with box ; the bushes were now mounds of snow , and the box was indicated by two snowy ridges . The house had a shut-up look ; the sitting-room curtains were down .